Adidas Terrex has quietly launched the second iteration of one of its most interesting trail shoes this April. The Agravic Speed Ultra 2, released globally at £150 with a listed weight of 280 grams in a men's UK 9, is a refinement rather than a reinvention of the brand's long-distance trail racer, and it arrives in a market that has spent the past eighteen months being reshaped by carbon plates, super-critical foams and an increasingly sharp delineation between training and racing shoes off-road. Terrex's positioning for this model is clear: a shoe designed to race ultras at the speed end of the discipline, with a geometry and stack profile that will feel familiar to runners coming from fast road racers.
Visually and mechanically, the Speed Ultra 2 is instantly recognisable as a descendant of the original, which was launched in 2024 and used by several of Terrex's ultra team including Tom Evans and Sophia Laukli. The signature Lightstrike Pro midsole remains, now tuned for a claimed five per cent higher energy return; Adidas has also slimmed the upper with a new translucent mono-mesh that drops weight without, the brand says, compromising the structure that was one of the Speed Ultra line's characteristic strengths. Forefoot stack is 35mm, heel stack 39mm, for a 4mm drop — a geometry that has become standard among the emerging class of ultra-specific race shoes.
The outsole is where the second version makes its most visible changes. Continental's Trailgecko compound is retained, but the lug pattern has been redesigned with deeper centre-line lugs for climbing grip and a widened rear-foot braking platform for descents. The change follows feedback from Terrex's athletes in the wet and rocky terrain of UTMB-series races, and it is intended to address one of the few specific criticisms of the original: traction on steep, technical descents when the shoe was heavily loaded late in long races. Early reviews suggest the adjustment is noticeable in the first fifty kilometres; longer-distance durability will take the summer racing calendar to assess.
Adidas is pitching the Speed Ultra 2 at the fast segment of the ultra market — broadly, the runners targeting the top of their age group at 50 to 100-mile distances rather than simply aiming to finish. That places it in direct competition with a crowded field that now includes the Hoka Tecton X3, the Nike Ultrafly Trail and Salomon's S/Lab Genesis, alongside NNormal's Kjerag and the incoming Altra Mont Blanc Carbon. Where the Speed Ultra 2 stands out is in its relatively modest stack height and absence of any carbon plate, which Adidas has argued gives it better ground feel and confidence on technical terrain than the plated alternatives — a debate that will ultimately be settled over the course of the 2026 UTMB World Series and Golden Trail seasons.
Availability is global from 1 April, with colourways limited to a muted black-and-grey "Core" palette and a more striking blue-and-citrus "Signal" colourway, which has sold out at several European retailers in its first fortnight. Adidas Terrex has also confirmed that the companion Agravic Speed 2, a shorter-distance sibling aimed at half and full marathon trail racing, is available alongside the Ultra, priced at £140. For runners who have spent the past season testing the first generation, the upgrades are incremental rather than revolutionary — but in a category where getting small decisions right matters more than chasing headline numbers, the Speed Ultra 2 looks like one of the most considered trail launches of the spring.