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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Metaspeed Sky Tokyovs
On Cloudboom Strike

Metaspeed Sky Tokyo

£200

Typical street price · £250 RRP

39.5mm — on the limit
Cloudboom Strike

£175

Typical street price · £270 RRP

39mm — road legal

Choose the Metaspeed Sky Tokyo if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.5–4.7% economy gain against 3–4.2%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • You are racing 10K — built for it, where the Cloudboom Strike is not.
  • You would rather buy on measured numbers: this shoe's specs are manufacturer-confirmed, the Cloudboom Strike's are estimated.

Choose the Cloudboom Strike if…

  • You have a narrow foot and want to be locked in.

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–266sCloudboom Strike: 152s–233s
Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo: £0.22Cloudboom Strike: £0.23

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
010203040503933
Cloudboom Strike

What you pay

Street price
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo£200
Cloudboom Strike£175■

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

RRP
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo£250
Cloudboom Strike£270

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

Cost per race
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo£51
Cloudboom Strike£44■

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

Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo£0.22■
Cloudboom Strike£0.23

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo186s–266s■
Cloudboom Strike152s–233s

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

Economy gain
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo3.5–4.7%■
Cloudboom Strike3–4.2%
Built for
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo10K · Half · Marathon
Cloudboom StrikeHalf · 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.
Cloudboom StrikeA genuinely competitive marathon racer and the first On shoe that belongs in this conversation on merit.

How it is built

Weight
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo183 g■
Cloudboom Strike195 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo39.5 mm
Cloudboom Strike39 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo34.5 mm
Cloudboom Strike33 mm
Drop
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo5 mm
Cloudboom Strike6 mm
Foam
Metaspeed Sky TokyoFF Leap over FF Turbo+
Cloudboom StrikeHelion HF
Plate
Metaspeed Sky Tokyocarbon fibre
Cloudboom Strikecarbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Metaspeed Sky TokyoYes (39.5 mm)
Cloudboom StrikeYes (39 mm)

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

Fit
Metaspeed Sky Tokyostandard
Cloudboom Strikenarrow
Stability
Metaspeed Sky Tokyobalanced
Cloudboom Strikebalanced

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

Race life
Metaspeed Sky Tokyo~250 km
Cloudboom Strike~250 km

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

Data confidence
Metaspeed Sky Tokyoverified■
Cloudboom Strikeestimated

■ 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£175at Fitstuff — £95 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.