When Ben Dhiman crossed the line in Chamonix in 18:16:29 last weekend, the first man to break 19 hours at UTMB, he did so in a shoe that had been on general sale for less than a month. The ASICS Metafuji Trail 2 was unveiled on 10 July and reached shops on 1 August at $250, and its route to the biggest result in trail running was unusually direct. Dhiman and Tom Evans wore prototypes of the shoe to finish first and second at UTMB in 2025, their feedback shaped the production model, and Evans gave that final version its racing debut at a 100-mile race on the day it was announced.
The headline changes over the original Metafuji Trail, launched two years ago as the first serious attempt to bring road super-shoe construction to mountain racing, are in the midsole. A new top layer of FF LEAP, the lightest and most resilient foam ASICS makes and the same compound found in its Metaspeed road racers, sits above a redesigned trail-specific carbon plate, with FF BLAST PLUS underneath it to absorb the long descents. Stack height is 36.5mm at the heel and 31.5mm at the forefoot for a 5mm drop, and the men's shoe weighs 255g, five grams lighter than its predecessor despite the added foam.
Underneath, the ASICSGRIP outsole carries 3.5mm lugs, a deliberately moderate depth intended to work on hard-packed Alpine trail and firmer surfaces as well as soft ground, and the upper is a Motion Wrap construction with a quick-lace system and a SOLYTE sockliner. It is a racer rather than a training shoe, and ASICS is not pretending otherwise: the brand describes it as being for competitive trail runners chasing podiums and personal bests, and the price places it alongside the Hoka Tecton X 4 and the new adidas Agravic Speed Ultra Evo at the top of the trail market.
Whether a carbon plate belongs on technical terrain is a question the sport is still arguing over, but the results this summer have made the case for it hard to dismiss. Dhiman's winning time took more than an hour off the previous UTMB record, and the shoe's plate is now the third generation of a design that ASICS has iterated with two of the best 100-mile runners in the world. Early tests from French and British reviewers describe a shoe that feels propulsive on runnable climbs and unexpectedly stable on descents, with the main caveat that the stack and plate demand a runner who is already comfortable at pace on rough ground.
The commercial timing is not accidental. The trail super-shoe category has expanded rapidly in 2026, with every major brand now offering a plated 100-mile racer, and a UTMB win in the first month of availability is the kind of validation that sells shoes. For most runners the practical question is not whether the Metafuji Trail 2 is the fastest shoe in Chamonix but whether its geometry suits their own terrain and pace, and at $250 it is worth trying on before committing. What is not in doubt is that the shoe worn to the fastest UTMB in history is now available to anyone with a size in stock.