The Asics Metaspeed Sky Paris and Metaspeed Edge Paris will be available to buy from Monday March 4, with both shoes priced at $250/£220, which is the same price as the Asics Metaspeed Sky+ and Metaspeed Edge+ in the US and an unexpected £5 drop in the UK.
It’s been almost two years since Asics launched the previous versions of the Metaspeed Sky and Edge, and though both are still competitive with the best carbon plate running shoes, the changes made to Metaspeed Paris shoes will hopefully help them challenge for the top spots.
The main update to both shoes is a new foam in the midsole, which is now made from Asics’s FF Blast Turbo Plus foam, a lighter and bouncier material than the FF Blast Turbo used in the Sky+ and Edge+ shoes.
Asics has also made the new shoes lighter by around 0.8oz/22g, which should make them the lightest carbon plate running shoes on the market, aside from the barely-available Adidas Adizero Pro Evo 1. Along with the new midsole foam, a lighter and more breathable Motion Wrap 2.0 contributes to the drop in weight. Asics has also adjusted the carbon plates in the shoes in a bid to improve performance.
As with previous generations of Metaspeed shoes, the differences between the Metaspeed Sky Paris and Metaspeed Edge Paris relate to the type of runner they are aimed at. The Sky shoes are designed for bounding runners who mostly speed up in races by lengthening their stride, while the Edge shoes are for those who mainly increase their cadence in races.
The geometry of the shoes are tailored to each running style. The Sky has a lower heel-to-toe drop and the carbon plates are positioned differently within the midsole foams.
I am definitely a cadence runner, but have always enjoyed using the Metaspeed Sky more than the Edge, and I set both my 10K and half marathon PRs in the Sky shoes, so I wouldn’t say the stride and cadence labels should completely determine your choice. However it’s certainly an interesting idea and some other brands now have two carbon shoes that seemed tailored to different running gaits.
The Asics Metaspeed Paris shoes are cheaper than many other carbon options, and if they can improve upon the performance of the excellent Metaspeed Sky+ and Edge+ they will be an exciting new option for runners seeking PRs to consider.
Find out more about each shoe on the Asics UK website.