Beyond speed: How the newest ASICS Metaspeed™ Paris helps improve a runner’s performance

MANILA, Philippines — While competing and training vigorously to either win at races or clock in their personal bests, elite runners also rely on gear that enables them to perform in their absolute best condition.

Hence, it is important to own a suitable pair of running shoes that can help them achieve their goals.

This is exactly how ASICS, a world-renowned footwear and sportswear brand, develops its performance running shoes: with the athletes’ as well as the consumers’ needs in mind.

ASICS recently launched their newly improved METASPEED™ Series, the result of a rigorous design and testing process led by its ASICS Institute of Sport Science (ISS). These are the METASPEED™ SKY Paris and METASPEED™ EDGE Paris, which are now more lightweight, softer and bouncier, with a re-configured full-length carbon plate.

During an exclusive visit to the ASICS ISS in Kobe, Japan in March, Philstar.com caught up with Shuhei Takemura, General Manager and Project Lead of the METASPEED™ development team.

“These new silhouettes are the result of meticulous work by our team at the ASICS Institute of Sport Science, working closely in collaboration with third-party experts and athletes across the globe, to deliver a new pinnacle in racing shoes for the brand,” Takemura expressed.

He continued to explain how racing shoes in the past were only favoring one type of runner. This meant that others had to adjust their running style to fit their shoe. This shouldn’t be the case as the shoe must be the one to conform to the runner’s style.

When they first released METASPEED™ in 2021, they broke new ground by taking a human-centric approach to shoe design. They were able to cater two different running styles, stride for METASPEED™ SKY and cadence for METASPEED™ EDGE.

ASICS recognizes stride runners as those with a long-loping gait with large periods spent airborne who increase their speed by extending their stride length. This is also the more popular running style among elites and athletes.

On the other hand, cadence runners feature smaller steps made while hovering over the ground with minimal up and down motion. To speed up, they extend their stride length and increase the number of steps