Shoe launch from ASICS will benefit cadence and stride runners
Japanese sports brand ASICS launched two new running shoes at the end of March, Metaspeed Sky and Metaspeed Edge, each designed with “a distinct running style in mind”, it said.
Researchers at the brand’s own Institute of Sport Science (ISS) analysed the high-performance running shoe market and concluded that most of the products available to athletes favoured one type of runner only. Shoes on offer only favoured stride runners, those with a long, loping gait, who increase their speed by extending their stride length.
ASICS’s research showed that these shoes fail to give the same level of support to elite athletes who prefer a second running style, cadence. Cadence runners take smaller steps, hovering over the ground with minimal up and down motion. These runners increase their speed both by extending stride length and by increasing the number of steps they take per minute.
In tests, sports scientists at the ISS found that athletes performed better when running in shoes optimised for their specific running style. From this, ASICS went on to create the Metaspeed Sky for stride runners and the Metaspeed Edge for those with a cadence style.
The first of these allows runners to conserve more energy while maintaining their pace at the later stages of a race. The second style will allow runners to control cadence more easily, the brand said, and experience “a fast underfoot feel”. The components of both types of shoe include midsole foam and a carbon plate.
