On will launch the Cloudboom Strike 2 on 30 July, the second generation of the Swiss brand's marathon super shoe and the model tasked with converting its growing road racing credibility into results at the sharp end of the autumn marathon season. The standard shoe will retail at $250, with the robot-sprayed LightSpray edition positioned above it at $310.
The headline figure belongs to the LightSpray version, which comes in at roughly 158 grams — around 5.6 ounces — making it one of the lightest marathon racing shoes on the market. The one-piece sprayed upper, applied by robotic arm in minutes rather than stitched from panels, dispenses with a conventional tongue and laces structure to shave weight where traditional construction cannot.
Beneath both versions sits On's familiar racing formula: a full-length carbon Speedboard sandwiched in Helion HF hyper foam, tuned for the kind of aggressive rockered ride that has carried the brand's athletes to marathon podiums over the past two seasons. The second generation refines rather than reinvents, with On promising a more stable heel and a smoother transition than the original Strike.
The launch lands in a crowded month for racing footwear. Asics, Puma and Mizuno have all moved their super-shoe lines forward this year, and On's own LightSpray technology has already trickled down to trainers such as the Cloudmonster Hyper. The Strike 2 is the purest expression of the brand's racing ambitions, and its pricing pitches it directly against the established elite of the category.
Whether the shoe can carry On deeper into the marathon conversation will be settled on the roads of Berlin, Chicago and New York this autumn. What is already clear is that the Swiss brand no longer sees itself as a challenger in the category: the Cloudboom Strike 2 is priced, engineered and marketed as a flagship among flagships.