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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Metaspeed Sky Tokyovs
Nike Vaporfly 4

Metaspeed Sky Tokyo

£200

Typical street price · £250 RRP

39.5mm — on the limit
Vaporfly 4

£120

Typical street price · £255 RRP

35mm — road legal

Choose the Metaspeed Sky Tokyo if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.5–4.7% economy gain against 3.2–4.4%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want more shoe underneath you late on: 39.5mm against 35mm, which is protection over a long race rather than speed over a short one.

Choose the Vaporfly 4 if…

  • Money matters: it is selling around £120 against £200, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.
  • You are racing 5K — built for it, where the Metaspeed Sky Tokyo is not.

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
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo: 186s–266sVaporfly 4: 165s–246s
Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo: £0.22Vaporfly 4: £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.

0102030405039.534.5
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo
010203040503529
Vaporfly 4

What you pay

Street price
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo£200
Vaporfly 4£120■

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

RRP
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo£250
Vaporfly 4£255

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

Cost per race
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo£51
Vaporfly 4£32■

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

Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo£0.22
Vaporfly 4£0.15■

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo186s–266s■
Vaporfly 4165s–246s

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

Economy gain
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo3.5–4.7%■
Vaporfly 43.2–4.4%
Built for
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo10K · Half · Marathon
Vaporfly 45K · 10K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Metaspeed Sky TokyoFor stride-length runners — the Sky is built to let your stride open up rather than turn over faster. Arguably the best all-round marathon shoe currently made.
Vaporfly 4The most versatile super shoe on sale. Light enough for a 5K, cushioned enough for a marathon, and the fourth generation fixed the upper problems that made the VF3 divisive.

How it is built

Weight
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo183 g■
Vaporfly 4184 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo39.5 mm
Vaporfly 435 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo34.5 mm
Vaporfly 429 mm
Drop
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo5 mm
Vaporfly 46 mm
Foam
Metaspeed Sky TokyoFF Leap over FF Turbo+
Vaporfly 4ZoomX
Plate
Metaspeed Sky Tokyocarbon fibre
Vaporfly 4carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Metaspeed Sky TokyoYes (39.5 mm)
Vaporfly 4Yes (35 mm)

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

Fit
Metaspeed Sky Tokyostandard
Vaporfly 4standard
Stability
Metaspeed Sky Tokyobalanced
Vaporfly 4balanced

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

Race life
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo~250 km■
Vaporfly 4~240 km

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

Data confidence
Metaspeed Sky Tokyoverified
Vaporfly 4verified

■ 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£199.90at Startfitness — £50.10 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£110.25at Runlimited — £144.74 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.