diff --git a/performance-metrics/src/main.rs b/performance-metrics/src/main.rs
index 868d3ee15..56c6a0834 100644
--- a/performance-metrics/src/main.rs
+++ b/performance-metrics/src/main.rs
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ mod adjuster {
     }
 }
 
-const TEST_LIST: [PerformanceTest; 90] = [
+const TEST_LIST: [PerformanceTest; 92] = [
     PerformanceTest {
         name: "boot_time_ms",
         func_ptr: performance_boot_time,
@@ -1589,6 +1589,30 @@ const TEST_LIST: [PerformanceTest; 90] = [
         },
         unit_adjuster: adjuster::s_to_us,
     },
+    PerformanceTest {
+        name: "micro_block_qcow_async_backing_read_128_us",
+        func_ptr: micro_bench_block::micro_bench_qcow_async_backing_read,
+        control: PerformanceTestControl {
+            test_timeout: 10,
+            test_iterations: 20,
+            warmup_iterations: 5,
+            num_ops: Some(128),
+            ..PerformanceTestControl::default()
+        },
+        unit_adjuster: adjuster::s_to_us,
+    },
+    PerformanceTest {
+        name: "micro_block_qcow_async_backing_read_256_us",
+        func_ptr: micro_bench_block::micro_bench_qcow_async_backing_read,
+        control: PerformanceTestControl {
+            test_timeout: 10,
+            test_iterations: 20,
+            warmup_iterations: 5,
+            num_ops: Some(256),
+            ..PerformanceTestControl::default()
+        },
+        unit_adjuster: adjuster::s_to_us,
+    },
 ];
 
 fn run_test_with_timeout(
diff --git a/performance-metrics/src/micro_bench_block.rs b/performance-metrics/src/micro_bench_block.rs
index 4ec0051a4..0d485aaa4 100644
--- a/performance-metrics/src/micro_bench_block.rs
+++ b/performance-metrics/src/micro_bench_block.rs
@@ -456,3 +456,27 @@ pub fn micro_bench_qcow_async_multi_cluster_read(control: &PerformanceTestContro
     drain_async_completions(async_io.as_mut(), num_reads);
     start.elapsed().as_secs_f64()
 }
+
+/// Read num_ops clusters from a QCOW2 overlay backed by a raw file
+/// through the QcowAsync io_uring path.
+///
+/// All reads fall through to the backing file (sync fallback in
+/// QcowAsync since the mapping is not a single allocated cluster).
+///
+/// Returns the total read wall clock time in seconds.
+pub fn micro_bench_qcow_async_backing_read(control: &PerformanceTestControl) -> f64 {
+    let num_ops = control.num_ops.expect("num_ops required") as usize;
+    let (_backing, _overlay, disk) = util::qcow_async_overlay_tempfile(num_ops);
+    let mut async_io = disk
+        .new_async_io(num_ops as u32)
+        .expect("new_async_io failed");
+
+    let mut buf = vec![0u8; QCOW_CLUSTER_SIZE as usize];
+    let iovec = read_iovec(&mut buf);
+
+    let start = Instant::now();
+    submit_reads(async_io.as_mut(), num_ops, QCOW_CLUSTER_SIZE, &[iovec]);
+
+    drain_async_completions(async_io.as_mut(), num_ops);
+    start.elapsed().as_secs_f64()
+}