Asics MetaSpeed Sky Racing Shoe Review

Josh reviews the new Asics MetaSpeed Sky racing shoes that are built for record-breaking speed to fly through your next 5K race up to marathon distances.

Being a top-of-the-line racing shoe, it’s minimalistic in design while providing protection of the midsole – the asset of the shoe that makes it a key player in outrunning the pack. 

The AsicsGrip outsole features harder wearing rubber in critical zones and is entirely free of flex grooves, creating a stiff and stable platform for your race day mileage.

For the first time, Asics have injected your ride with a full-length carbon plate to join the league of their competitors in the racing world. This boosts the rigidity of the racing shoe for an effortless and efficient toe-off to propel your stride forward.

The weight-saving FlyteFoam Blast Turbo midsole is your secret weapon for responsiveness and shock-absorbing compression in a featherlight, nylon-based package.

Wrapping your feet in an ultra-breathable mesh upper and delivering an irritation-free fit around the back of your heel, the MetaSpeed Sky has earned the hype of racers seeking lightweight speed without compromise to comfort.

Check out the review with full transcript below.

Hey guys, Josh here from Sportitude Running and it's shoe review time. Today we're going to be talking about the new light, fast road racing shoe from Asics and it is none other than the Asics MetaSpeed Sky.

This shoe has had quite the hype. We've been waiting for this one for a few months now. The main reason being is it was worn by Sarah Hall at the London marathon last year and she got a medical clearance to race in that shoe.

However, there was a lot of wait. We've been sitting on the edge of our seats and now that it has landed we're so excited to talk you through exactly what this shoe is all about.

In my review today I'm going to be touching on the three engineering components being the outsole, midsole and upper. I’ll dial in on who should be thinking about buying this shoe and give you all the information at home to maybe throw this into your race day rotation. Without further ado let's get stuck in.

Runner Profile

In my shoe reviews gone by I like to profile the foot type that could be considering the shoe. However, I'm not going to do that today. I'm going to push that to the side because if you're thinking about buying this racing shoe you potentially have a mileage shoe in your rotation. You may have a lighter weight tempo interval shoe, and this is just to compliment you on race day.

This shoe is neutral in design. It's obviously designed to go quick for a long period of time. When we're looking at race day, we throw support out the window a little bit depending on the athlete and depending on what you're chasing. If you're chasing some serious fast PBs then this is a shoe that you could be considering.

The reason I'm not worrying too much about the foot type is because the carbon plate inside this shoe does provide a very explosive propulsion underneath the foot. Therefore, whether you're a mild overpronator, a neutral foot type or you're a supinator this is going to be a A-OK for you on race day.

Outsole

With our shoe reviews we like to start from the ground and work our way up so let's talk all things outsole. With a lightweight shoe like this they want to keep things as minimalistic as they possibly can. However, it is a completely new engineered midsole which Asics have put together over the last 12 to 18 months.

They must protect the midsole, so you have hard wearing rubber underneath covering the lateral component of the heel right through to the forefoot. It covers the whole surface area with no flex grooves across the shoe being the horizontal plane, the medial to lateral side.

In conjunction with the carbon plate this provides a relatively stable but stiff outsole underneath this midsole. There’s a little bit of high-wearing rubber on the medial side of the heel that won't get a whole heap of wear over the durational life of this shoe. It's just there to give it some structure and integrity which is obviously important with a race day shoe.

Midsole

Coming to the midsole now, this is essentially where all the magic is happening within this shoe. Asics have a full-length carbon plate and it's 1.1mm in thickness running from the back through to the forefoot. This is Asics’ first crack at a full-length carbon plate.

It’s very exciting because there is a lot of noise in this space and there has been a lot of noise for a number of years now. It's great that Asics have come to the table and introduced this into that market because they're a little bit slow in comparison to the other brands but that's A-OK. That's Asics’ way of doing things, they take their time and make sure they release a shoe when they're confident they have nailed the engineering brief.

It has a full-length carbon plate from the heel through to the forefoot and 5mm heel-to-toe drop. That is a 33mm heel and 28mm forefoot for the men's model and a 31mm heel and 26mm forefoot for the women’s model, so a subtle adjustment with the stack between men's and women's but still a relatively generous stack height all things considered.

The midsole is made up of new Asics FlyteFoam Blast Turbo. That midsole is a completely new execution.They're using a nylon compound which goes inside that foam which helps with reducing weight but also in creating a nice responsive feel underneath the foot.

The carbon plate does provide that rigidity and stiffness. This is what you're searching for to aid in releasing that stress off the metatarsal heads when you're getting out of your gait cycle. However, most of the responsiveness will come from the midsole itself. The carbon plate just adds that layer of integrity to this shoe.

Upper

Coming up to the upper, there's not a lot to really dial in on because it is a race day shoe with a minimalistic racing design so there's not a lot of weight.

There is a little bit of structure in the heel counter at the back. I wouldn't call it a total internal heel counter by any stretch of the imagination because there's a little bit of movement at the back.

However, it's a thicker design at the back so you get a relatively good lockdown. Inside the heel collar Asics have placed a nice material which will run along the back of your Achilles. Any vertical lift you may get inside this shoe won't rub and irritate your foot during your races.

Coming through to the midstance section of the upper of this shoe, Asics have included a really thin tongue. The tongue is stitched in at the base of the lacing structure. When you pull your tongue up it doesn't pull up too far and it won't slip too far down to the lateral or medial side. It has a minimalistic design so there's no additional overlays that's going to lock the foot down.

Coming through to the forefoot you have engineered mesh which is very light and incredibly breathable. Again, it’s all about reducing the weight on race day but trying to provide as much support as you possibly can with that weight reduction.

Width

The shoe is a small release so they're only going to make it in standard widths in the men's and women’s models, being a D width in the men's model and a B width in the women’s model.

The Wrap Up

There's a lot of noise in the carbon plate space with the Nike Air Zoom Alpha Fly Next%, Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2 and the Saucony Endorphin Pro all having a fantastic release. The Brooks Hyperion Elite 2 and even the Hoka One One Carbon Rocket are very popular shoes in this space as well.

However, the reason I've really enjoyed my sample runs in the Asics MetaSpeed Sky is more to do with the real estate underneath the foot, and it has some similar characteristics to the Brooks Hyperion Elite 2. There’s more landing space and that helps the runner re-stabilise themselves when they get through midstance to toe-off by having a little bit more shoe under the foot.

You’re also getting a ton of compression with that soft cushioning system. We find in carbon plate shoes like this - it doesn't matter if it's the Nike Air Zoom Alpha Fly Next%, Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2, MetaSpeed Sky or the Brooks Hyperion Elite 2 - that runners resupinate out of their gait cycle. That's essentially the carbon plate at work to provide that propulsion, using your big toe like a lever to flick you out of the last phase of your gait cycle. They're all very similar in that characteristic.

When you're looking at this specific shoe, you're going to love the fact that it's a lightweight shoe. It's 195 grams in the men's model and it's 165 grams in the women’s model. It’s very competitive with all the others in the market.

It is an absolute gem to run in. I’m super excited to get it out on some of the athletes here in Adelaide and obviously across Australia and get their feedback and see what the hype has been all about.

There you have it, that is my take on the Asics MetaSpeed Sky. It's a phenomenal release and I'm going to be excited to see what Asics are doing in this space, especially with this new midsole they've been able to execute.

It's going to be a lot of fun and hopefully we will see this shoe on the podium at some races and more importantly see this shoe smashing some PBs for you the runners out there.

If you have any questions on this shoe, please contact our Sportitude shoe experts. If you have any additional queries or questions around the carbon plate concept please let us know.

Please subscribe to the Sportitude YouTube channel to stay notified of all our shoe reviews. We'll continually work hard to pump out as many as we possibly can in 2021.

Until next time stay safe, happy running and good luck with your racing. We‘ll see you on the road, take care. 

FEATURES

• Support: Neutral, Lightweight
• Upper: Mesh
• Midsole: Asics FlyteFoam Blast Turbo

Men

• Heel Height: 33mm
• Forefoot Height: 28mm
• Offset / Drop: 5mm
• Weight: 195g / 6.87oz
• Width: D (standard)

Women

• Heel Height: 31mm
• Forefoot Height: 26mm
• Offset / Drop: 5mm
• Weight: 165g / 5.82oz
• Width: B (standard)