La Sportiva Prodigio Pro Trail Running Shoes

Review by Erin Trail

Initial Impressions

The Prodigio Pro is La Sportiva’s latest entry into trail racing shoes, utilizing a new XFlow™ Speed midsole that maximizes reactivity and energy return by combining super critical nitrogen infused TPU (core) and EVA (cage). These shoes have a generous rocker to promote foot turnover while the FriXion® XF 2.0 rubber sole provides grip underfoot.

Detailed Review

The La Sportiva Prodigio Pro is the newest in the brand’s trail running line, with a “supershoe” vibe. This shoe doesn’t use a carbon plate, like many supershoes.  Instead, it relies on a super responsive midsole, made from super critical nitrogen infused TPU (core) and EVA (cage), to provide snappy feel while providing cushion. The upper material is unique from most shoes, using a Power Wire mesh, which is a very light and breathable material that’s also durable. Underfoot, the shoe has a prominent heel and toe rocker, which promotes foot turnover and stable footing. Finally, the FriXion® XF 2.0 rubber sole provides plenty of grip.

Testing Conditions:

• My local hill incline (0.2 miles of stairs up, 0.6 miles of steep to flat trail down), in snow and slush
• A super muddy recovery hike
• A longer 9 mile run on singletrack
• Loops on singletrack (swapping out shoes every loop for comparison)

My first run in the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro trail shoes was my local hill incline on a snowy – then slushy – day.  Immediately out of the box, these felt super comfortable.  I had stable and secure footing going up the stairs, but also going back down on the trail.  Conditions were initially several inches of mixed packed and fluffy snow (which could have been slippery) and degraded to slush and then mud.  I had fantastic traction the entire time, giving me confidence in my footing to really push the downhill speed. The Power Wire mesh did allow for slush to hit my feet as I ran through puddles, so if you have a really sloppy run, plan your socks and foot lubrication appropriately. As things turned muddy, I was really impressed with how the lugs on the sole cleared mud.  I’ve had runs where my shoes gained (what felt like) pounds, just from mud sticking to the shoes. The lugs on the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro trail shoes are spaced in such a way where mud sloughs off the shoe as you move.  The uppers cleaned up well; once the mud was dry, all it took was a few swipes with a stiff brush to clear away the dirt that had accumulated on the shoe uppers.

As you run, the shoes just feel good; good in the way that feels like a comfortable hug. On my looped singletrack testing, the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro trail shoes had a noticeable difference in how they felt with every step. It felt cushioned but responsive, due to the midsole design. Starting out on the loop in the Prodigio Pros, I just kept remarking to myself how good they felt underfoot.

The toebox is fairly generous (although not as generous as other brands). The heel is narrow, especially when compared to the toebox, and the heel cup has strategically placed pads that keep your heel locked into place.  As a woman with skinny feet and narrow heels, this was one of the rare shoes where my heel was locked in but also comfortable.

The grip of the FriXion® XF 2.0 rubber sole is solid.  My local trail has a good mix of dirt, pea sized gravel, sandstone conglomerate rock (i.e. bumpy) and sand over the rocks.  I never had an issue with traction.  Also, due to the design of the sole, I had very confident footing.  I didn’t stumble or nearly twist an ankle while running in these shoes.

The La Sportiva Prodigio Pro trail shoes are also very easy to put on without untying the laces.  As a triathlete, I need to be able to go from my cycling shoes to my running shoes (aka Transition 2).  The easier my running shoes are to put on, the faster my overall race time will be.  As a triathlete, I don’t want to spend time adjusting my laces, and I found that the Prodigio Pros were great to put on in a hurry.

The limiting feature of the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro trail shoes (for me) is the knit lining collar.  The tongue is actually part of the inner shoe liner, where it is all one piece of material.  The tongue is padded along the laces, to reduce hot spots, but also – and unfortunately – the tongue + collar is fairly compressive. I require special insoles in my running shoes to accommodate a torn plantar plate, which can sometimes take away from the total shoe volume.  I can usually work around any circulation issues by loosening up the laces, but the collar of the Prodigio Pro proved to be the compressive limiter for shoe volume.  On two of my test runs, my feet went numb while wearing the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro trail shoes, due to what I believe is the compressive nature of the inner lining of the shoe. This usually happened on uphill terrain.  (It should be noted that on my loop test run, my feet were slightly numb with the Prodigio Pros and were fine in the other 2 shoes I tested on that same loop that day).  The padded tongue feels good texturally, but unfortunately, for my anatomy and insole needs, it was too tight.  A possible (but not yet attempted) solution would be to cut a slit (preferably on the arch side) of the liner, to release the compressive nature of the tongue + liner.  If you have a smaller sized foot or don’t need special insoles, this might not be an issue.

Closing Thoughts

The La Sportiva Prodigio Pro trail shoes are fun running shoes that are comfortable with good cushioning, footing and grip.  The unfortunate thing, for me, is that the inner liner is way too tight for me to wear as designed during longer runs or in a race.  These shoes are so comfortable and fun to run in that I’m not willing to give up on them yet.  My hope is that if I cut a small slit in the inner liner (between the laces and arch) that the shoes will loosen up enough to put these on the top of my shoe list. If these shoes didn’t have that compressive inner liner issue, they would be at the top of my list for trail racing shoes.

Erin Trail

Erin Trail’s hobby is collecting hobbies. She’s a 5th Generation Coloradan and grew up exploring the outdoors on family camping trips and hikes.  Her first backpacking trip was at eight years old to Grizzly Reservoir – she proudly carried all of her own gear those 3 miles from the main parking lot to the Reservoir.

Erin is an adult-onset athlete who started as a Masters Swimmer and then developed into a triathlete.  She completed 5 Ironman races and nearly 20 x 70.3 distance Ironman races, including the World Championship in Lahti, Finland, in 2023.  Somewhere along her triathlon journey, she picked up a deep love of cycling.

Cycling encouraged her to see landscapes in a new way, learn new skills and to develop self reliance; now she often goes and does Type 2 rides just to see if she can do it.  She’s got all the bikes: gravel, mountain, fat bike, time trial and road.

She is even known to combine her love of camping and cycling and go off on solo 24 hour overnight bikepacking trips in the mountains of Colorado. In addition to bikes, she teaches yoga, lifts weights, skis, SUPs and has recently purchased a campervan.

Erin is a former Montana park ranger with a degree in environmental engineering.  She loves getting into technical details while putting her gear (and herself) through the paces. She shares her home in Colorado with her husband, Will, and her 3 cats (Zipper, Brewtus, and Simcoe).

2025 brings some exciting things.  Erin has qualified to be on Team USA for USA Triathlon and will be competing in a World Championship off-road triathlon in Pontevedra, Spain in June. To prepare for this event, she’s got several mountain bike races and training weekends planned in the months leading up to the big day.  Additionally, she’s racing Ironman Boise 70.3 in July.  Once her race schedule closes out in July, she’ll be moving to more adventure based activities (bikepacking, vanlife, and mountain bike festivals).

When not adventuring, she can be found on a sunny patio somewhere, drinking beers with her husband.