La Sportiva Prodigio Pro Performance Review

When the trail industry started introducing its own super shoes, designers borrowed heavily from the road industry and focused on the introduction of plates and lightweight midsoles. What these shoes offered in speed and weight, they often lacked in versatility and stability. Stripping a trail shoe down and adding a plate can be a precarious balance between race-ready speed and an uncontrolled death wish, depending on the trail. 

Enter the newest model from La Sportiva, the Prodigio Pro. A supercritical midsole combined with a brand whose construction is rooted in technical elements leads to a fast shoe you won’t be at-risk in on tough terrain.

What is the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro?

The Prodigio Pro is La Sportiva’s first trail racing shoe, with an emphasis on high performance and bringing an edge to anyone’s competition. True to the brand’s mountain roots, La Sportiva opted for a non-plated shoe, emphasizing the ability to be useful in mountain-running instances, while still possessing the ability to throw down at fast paces. This is truly a do-it-all shoe and one of the better trail models I’ve used in recent memory.

Cushion

The Prodigio Pro features a supercritical, blended midsole called XFlow Speed that gives the shoe its “super” designation. The midsole consists of what La Sportiva terms a TPU+NITRO Inner Core, surrounded by an EVA+NITRO Outer Cage. This combination makes for a responsive and peppy interior that’s protected by a firmer, outer lining to enhance the stability and longevity of the ride.

Contrary to most race shoes you’ll find on the market, noticeably absent from the Prodigio Pro is a plate. That not only aligns well with La Sportiva’s mountain roots, but also positively impacts how the shoe performs in technical terrain.

I loved this midsole – the supercritical (fancy word for nitrogen-infused) nature kept the ride bouncy and snappy whenever I decided to push the pace. This made it super fun on rolling terrain or flat-to-moderate trails. I even did some road strides in these, and the energy return felt akin to other speed-focused road shoes I’ve tried. Despite the lack of plate, these shoes are fast and fun.

Opposite of most race-focused trail shoes, the Prodigio Pro further holds its own on steep and rocky terrain. It’s definitely not the most technical option in La Sportiva’s lineup. But across the industry, the Prodigio Pro will hang with most technical shoes, even as a speedster. 

This midsole truly has a do-it-all setup and a unique ride. Although the foam is designed to handle high speeds, it’ll be fine for your chill days and long efforts. This is an early and easy favorite for midsole of the year for me.

Upper

The Prodigio Pro uses a mesh upper that La Sportiva calls “Power Wire”. In essence, it’s lined with colored wires that make up the skeleton. The whole upper is a sock construction with an emphasized wrap around the midfoot. The knit tongue and heel collar fall right below the ankle. On top of the tongue are 4 tubular pockets of padding, which were added to stop lace bite and allow for a super secure lockdown.

This upper has one of the most comfortable fits I’ve worn in recent memory. The Power Wire mesh is super soft and flexible but gives enough shape to make you feel like your foot is secure and centered over the midsole. The padded tongue keeps away any lace pressure, and the ankle closure is soft enough to not bug you but has yet to lose its shape – which is good for keeping debris out of the shoe.

Some stretching will naturally occur; but after several miles, I’m still receiving the same comfort and stability I got right out of the box. Our friends over at Conversational Pace pointed out that the upper on the Prodigio Pro is stitched right into the midsole, which allows your foot to feel low in the shoe and more secure over the ground.

I’ve loved this upper and the technicality and performance it provides above all. It’s just plain comfortable and easy to be in for extended periods of time. In the way a Jedi becomes one with the force, your foot will become one with the Prodigio Pro’s upper.

Traction

The outsole is La Sportiva’s FriXion rubber and is super sticky and durable. Like every running shoe you’ll get from the brand, you can depend on this outsole to hold up in pretty much any condition, which makes it highly versatile in terms of running terrain. I took this shoe through dirt, mud, snow, road, etc. and found the outsole to be solid in every respect. Luckily, it’s also not overbearing, so it doesn’t get in the way when you’re on smooth and easy trails.

Support

The outsole also has a unique component that helps provide more stability to your ride. The rubber near your metatarsal bones wraps up and into the midsole, providing a cage-like structure and helping your foot stay centered. You’ll feel this most on windy or off-kilter trails when your foot ends up off-plane or on the sidewall of a trail. This feature is similar to The North Face Enduris 4’s plated wings, and it likewise helps play into the Prodigio Pro’s cohesive construction.

Cons

I genuinely don’t really have a bad thing to say about this shoe. I suppose the thick upper will get hot in the summer, which could lead to a higher blister potential. But I can’t confirm as my testing miles have been run in the cold. If you’re an inexperienced runner, the midsole response may be a bit much for you.

Is the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro wide foot friendly?

For the La Sportiva brand, this shoe is on the much wider side and certainly wider than its predecessor, the Prodigio. But as far as the rest of the running shoe industry goes, it’s fairly normal or even on the slightly narrow side. Wide footers will either want to size up or avoid this one altogther.

Is the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro worth $195?

There’s a lot of super shoe level DNA and value included with makes it a resounding yes.

How to use the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro

This is technically a super shoe, so its intended use is for fast paces and race-day efforts. The caveat here is that you can give those super fast efforts in this shoe on any terrain. It’s technically sound, durable, and stable. In my humble opinion, you can use this shoe for long and slow efforts, technical climbs and descents, and speedy efforts over rolling trails. It’s a do-it-all trail runner packaged as a super shoe (rightfully so).

La Sportiva Prodigio Pro Summary

Where most trail super shoes go for stripped-down materials to remove weight and plated midsoles for an emphasis on speed, the Prodigio Pro offers a more humble (but just as effective) take. A midsole that’s not overly complex but built for speed will enable you to use this as a racer through mountain terrain and accompany you on all your training runs leading up to that effort. The comfortable upper makes this an easy option for ultra distances and everything in between. Wrapped together with a bulletproof outsole, the Prodigio Pro immediately cements itself as one of the most exciting and best performing shoes of 2025. Kudos to La Sportiva!

How does the Author Run?

Sam Lohse (age 28, 6’0″, 170 lbs): Runs daily, sometimes morning/night doubles, with one rest day a week (typically). Hangs right around 40-50 miles a week in general unless in race-specific training. Races distances from 50K to 100 miles, almost always on the trails. 

Disclosure

While La Sportiva did provide a pair of the Prodigio Pro to facilitate this review, the company had no involvement in this review, didn’t receive an advance look at it, and has not attempted to influence it.