The Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is, by standard naming conventions, the Metaspeed 4. But Asics refuses to play the road racing shoe game straight up and insists on obfuscating the true nature of its top tier road racing shoes.
The Metaspeed Sky series is aimed at stride runners, which many have speculated means those that hit the ground with their forefoot versus their heel. This year is the closest Asics has come to actually acknowledging that and most of that has to do with the obvious way the midsole, and that of its sister shoe, the Asics Metaspeed Edge Tokyo (reviewed here), is designed.
Release Date: July 25, 2025
Price: $270
Unisex Weight: 5.6 oz. / 159 g
Drop: 5mm (40mm heel, 35mm forefoot)
Sizing: True-to-size
Pros
FF Leap and FF Turbo+ combo is bouncy yet stable
Top tier traction with ASICSGRIP
Highly breathable
Featherweight
Cons
Synthetic suede tongue
Not a great option for heel strikers
According to Asics, the Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is “designed to help you increase your speed by lengthening your strides while conserving energy with each step.”
There’s that nod to stride running again. I have long legs at 6’6” with most of my height in my legs. I’m not even sure it’s even optimal for me to pick up extra length on my strides. I’ll just test this baby on how it feels when I run. I’ll leave a dissection of the shoe’s affect on stride length to other reviewers.
Cushion
The Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo features Asics new ATPU-based FF Leap at the bottom of the midsole, an almost straight carbon plate in the middle, and a layer of FF Turbo+ on the top. The amounts of those foams is where the Metaspeed Sky Tokyo caters to forefoot strikers.
The softer, bouncier, and more plush FF Leap makes up the majority of the midsole with a huge stack of it in the heel and a little less in the forefoot. This is easily visible in the pictures. The carbon plate follows the line that bisects the two foams. The FF Turbo+, the more stable of the two foams, takes the opposite position with a little extra in the forefoot and then tapering to a thin layer in the heel.
FF Turbo+ still qualifies as a modern super foam, it’s just not as responsive and soft as the FF Leap. Its placement adds some stability to the areas where forefoot strikers [Editor’s Note: ahem, stride runners] need it the most.
The result is one of the best road and marathon racing midsoles on the market. It’s a fantastic balance of soft, bouncy, and stable that’s exactly what forefoot strikers need. The Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is also usable in road races ranging from a mile to a marathon. It can be a long run shoe, a workout shoe, and a race shoe. You won’t feel like you’re leaving anything on the table in any of those use cases thanks to the well-balanced yet poppy midsole.
Stability
The Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is light on stability with its itsy bitsy heel counter and narrowish midfoot. That said, the midsole flares nicely on the lateral and medial side of both the heel and forefoot. As a result, the Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is able to corner nicely.
No matter how tight the corner, I stayed on the footbed thanks to the build and lacing locking me into the footbed. This is about as good of stability as can be expected from a race day shoe.
Traction
ASICSGRIP is dependable and the almost full forefoot coverage offered on the Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo does the job in most conditions. It’s one of the better race shoes through soaked water stations. I only got slight slippage when a thin layer of sand covered slicker concrete.
However, if you push off in a supinated position, there is an area where Asics removed the rubber to save weight. It’s a watch out for a small group of people that can’t quite get their foot to roll over and push off with the big toe.
Upper
The Motion Wrap 3.0 upper on the Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is almost paper thin and extremely breathable. I thought the upper used on last year’s Metaspeed Sky Paris was comfortable and light but this year’s upper takes it up a notch. It’s the best race upper yet from the team at Asics.
Although [Editor’s Note: someone is hedging] the foldy, paper thin synthetic suede tongue from last year returns and is just as uninspiring this year. Sure it saves weight, but it doesn’t relieve any lace pressure and isn’t particularly comfortable. This is especially vexing because Asics knows how to make super comfy tongues (see the Nimbus 27 and Superblast 2 as examples).
Hopefully this subpar tongue can be replaced by something more comfortable in the next model.
The Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo fits true to size lengthwise and there’s some extra room in the toebox, though I find the midfoot and heel fairly narrow. Wide footers with a more triangular foot will be able to enjoy them but if your foot is wide and straight I’d strongly recommend trying them on at your local running store.
Yes, the Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo delivers proper value at $270. I hate saying that, but the super shoe market has left behind the friendly confines of the $250 price point for the $260-$280 range. With the Metaspeed Sky Tokyo firmly dead center of that range, it’s in line with current market pricing.
The Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is best used for road racing from mile to 5K all the way to the marathon. It also performs well on long runs and any type of fast-paced workout.
The Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is Asics best road racing shoe yet (for forefoot runners). Boston-winning Asics runner John Korir chose them for his 2025 Boston victory and I’m increasingly seeing the Metaspeed Sky Tokyo on the feet of runners. If you’re a forefoot striker or super light on your feet, take note. The Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is one of the best racing shoes on the market.
How does the Author Run?
Drew Whitcomb (age 43, 6’6″ 200lbs): Runs daily with a once a week rest day. Runs a lot of miles due to testing needs and a growing affinity for long-distance races. Regularly competes in marathons, half-marathons, 10k, and 5k races.
Disclosure
While Asics did provide a pair of the Metaspeed Sky Tokyo 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.
AloJapan.com