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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Magic Speed 5vs
HOKA Cielo X1 2.0

Magic Speed 5

£130

Typical street price · £150 RRP

38mm — road legal
Cielo X1 2.0

£150

Typical street price · £250 RRP

■ 46mm — over limit

Choose the Magic Speed 5 if…

  • Your race is run under World Athletics rules — this one is legal at 38mm and the Cielo X1 2.0 is not.
  • You want more races out of one pair: about 500km of competitive life against 350km.
  • You are racing 10K or Half marathon — built for it, where the Cielo X1 2.0 is not.

Choose the Cielo X1 2.0 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 2.8–4% economy gain against 2–3.1%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want more shoe underneath you late on: 46mm against 38mm, which is protection over a long race rather than speed over a short one.
  • You are racing Ultra / 50K+ — built for it, where the Magic Speed 5 is not.
  • You would rather buy on measured numbers: this shoe's specs are manufacturer-confirmed, the Magic Speed 5's are estimated.

What does this
mean for you?

Every figure below is recalculated from your race and your current time. The gap between two shoes is not fixed — it grows with how long you are on your feet.

Over marathon from 3:45:00

Time back
Magic Speed 5: 83s–158sCielo X1 2.0: 138s–219s
Cost per second saved
Magic Speed 5: £0.14Cielo X1 2.0: £0.15

Ranges, not promises. Both figures are against a standard trainer, and the honest answer for most runners is that the difference between two shoes of this class is smaller than the difference a month of decent training makes.

Every number.

010203040503831
Magic Speed 5
010203040504639
Cielo X1 2.0

What you pay

Street price
Magic Speed 5£130■
Cielo X1 2.0£150

What the shoe is actually selling for across the shops we read, not its RRP.

RRP
Magic Speed 5£150
Cielo X1 2.0£250

List price. Almost nobody pays it for a race shoe.

Cost per race
Magic Speed 5£16■
Cielo X1 2.0£27

Street price divided by the races the foam stays fast for.

Cost per second saved
Magic Speed 5£0.14■
Cielo X1 2.0£0.15

The whole-life question: what each second of race time costs you.

What it does

Estimated saving
Magic Speed 583s–158s
Cielo X1 2.0138s–219s■

Against a standard trainer, over the distance and time set above.

Economy gain
Magic Speed 52–3.1%
Cielo X1 2.02.8–4%■
Built for
Magic Speed 510K · Half · Marathon
Cielo X1 2.0Marathon · Ultra
Best use case
Magic Speed 5The best entry point to carbon. Real plate, real super foam, durable enough to train in, and about half the price of the flagships.
Cielo X1 2.0Enormous, cushioned and surprisingly stable. For heavier runners and slower marathoners it may genuinely be the most comfortable way to cover 42km fast.

How it is built

Weight
Magic Speed 5218 g■
Cielo X1 2.0230 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Magic Speed 538 mm
Cielo X1 2.046 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Magic Speed 531 mm
Cielo X1 2.039 mm
Drop
Magic Speed 57 mm
Cielo X1 2.07 mm
Foam
Magic Speed 5FF Blast Turbo
Cielo X1 2.0PEBA
Plate
Magic Speed 5carbon fibre
Cielo X1 2.0carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Magic Speed 5Yes (38 mm)■
Cielo X1 2.0No (46 mm)

World Athletics caps road racing shoes at 40 mm of stack.

Fit
Magic Speed 5standard
Cielo X1 2.0standard
Stability
Magic Speed 5stable
Cielo X1 2.0stable

Neither is better in the abstract — it depends on your stride.

Race life
Magic Speed 5~500 km■
Cielo X1 2.0~350 km

How long the foam stays fast, not how long the shoe survives.

Data confidence
Magic Speed 5estimated
Cielo X1 2.0verified■

■ marks the better figure where one is genuinely better. Fit, foam, drop and stability carry no mark — they depend on your foot and your stride, not on which shoe is superior.

In your size.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£119at Startfitness — £31 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£150at Armaghsports — £100 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.