ASICS Sonicblast 2 Costs $190, Not the $140 the Collection Advertises

ASICS put the SONICBLAST 2 at the center of its RISE & SHINE collection in August, and the press release says the collection starts at $140. The SONICBLAST 2 does not. It is $190 on ASICS.com, $190 at Fleet Feet, and $189.95 at Running Warehouse. That $140 figure is the floor across eight shoes, not the price of the one the announcement is built around, and the gap matters because $190 puts this super trainer $10 above the model it replaces.

The SONICBLAST sits inside ASICS’ BLAST family, which is the brand’s home for foam-forward trainers rather than carbon racers. What separates the SONICBLAST from its siblings is mechanical: an ASTROPLATE propulsion element working with the foam instead of a plate simply stiffening the platform. The first SONICBLAST launched at $180 with the ASTROPLATE centered in the midsole, a two-layer stack of FF BLAST MAX and FF TURBO SQUARED, an 8 mm drop, and a listed weight of 256 g, or 9 oz. ASICS classified that shoe under the goal of running faster. The SONICBLAST 2 is classified under running further. That is a small line on a spec page and a real change in what the shoe is for. ASICS moved it from a tempo tool toward a distance trainer, and the update makes more sense read that way than as a straight speed upgrade.

The mechanical change is the plate. ASICS redesigned the ASTROPLATE into a forked shape, which lets FF TURBO SQUARED cushioning run further through the midsole and into the trampoline pod rather than stopping at the plate. Paul Lang, Senior Manager of Global Product for Performance Running Footwear, described the work as refining the feeling rather than reinventing it, rethinking the plate geometry and how it interacts with the cushioning around it. The dual-foam construction stays, pairing FF TURBO SQUARED with FF BLAST MAX, and a new engineered mesh upper handles breathability. ASICS puts the weight saving at roughly 14 g against the previous model, measured on a men’s US 9. The launch colorways are Energy Aqua and Illuminate Yellow, and White and Stadium Orange, under style code 1011C244 for men and 1012C009 for women.

The $10 increase deserves a clear-eyed look. A forked plate and a lighter upper are genuine engineering, but the shoe arrives while the first SONICBLAST is being cleared at $119.95 on ASICS.com and $135 at Fleet Feet. A runner who liked the v1 formula can buy two pairs of it for barely more than one v2. That is the real competition for this shoe, and it is a problem of ASICS’ own making. The reclassification from faster to further is the honest argument for the upgrade: if the forked plate does extend usable range, the v2 is a different shoe rather than a slightly better one, and the discounted v1 is not a substitute. If it does not, $190 is a lot to pay for 14 g. There is a second reading worth holding onto. ASICS has spent the last two years widening the BLAST family until the names started overlapping, and the goal reclassification looks like housekeeping as much as innovation. Moving the SONICBLAST toward distance clears room for the SUPERBLAST to own the long stuff at the top and leaves the tempo slot open. Runners rarely shop by a brand’s internal taxonomy, but that taxonomy is what decides which shoe gets the next foam.

On price, $190 places the SONICBLAST 2 in the crowded middle of the plated-trainer market and $20 under the SUPERBLAST 3 at $210, which is ASICS’ own halo trainer. It sits $20 above the GEL-NIMBUS 28 at $170, a shoe with no plate at all. The three retailers checked agree within a nickel, so there is no early discounting to wait out. The previous generation’s current clearance pricing is the useful benchmark for anyone deciding whether to buy now, and it suggests the v2 will hold $190 through the season.

The SONICBLAST 2 released August 24 as part of the RISE & SHINE collection at $190, in men’s style code 1011C244 and women’s 1012C009. It is available at ASICS, Running Warehouse, and Fleet Feet. The wider collection also brings sunrise colorways to the SUPERBLAST 3, MEGABLAST, NOVABLAST 6, GEL-NIMBUS 28, GEL-CUMULUS 28, GEL-KAYANO 33, and GT-2000 15. For more from ASICS this season, see the ASICS BLOOMSTRIDE, and for another plated trainer released this month, the PUMA FAST-R NITRO Elite 3.

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The Sneakers Team

The Sneakers Team is the editorial desk behind becausesneakers, founded and edited by Nick Engvall. Nick has spent more than two decades in the sneaker industry. He built the original Eastbay Blog, led the first dedicated sneaker team at Complex, ran the first UGC and seeding programs at Finish Line, was employee number nine at StockX, and served as Senior Director at Stadium Goods. He hosts the Sneaker History podcast, and his first book, Small Luxuries: Sneakers, arrives in October 2026 from Motorbooks. Release details on this site are checked against the brand's own product information before publication, and anything we cannot confirm is labelled rather than stated.

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