diff --git a/packages/google-cloud-storage/google/cloud/storage/asyncio/async_write_object_stream.py b/packages/google-cloud-storage/google/cloud/storage/asyncio/async_write_object_stream.py
index 48f786c7654d..bf5ecb24ac4e 100644
--- a/packages/google-cloud-storage/google/cloud/storage/asyncio/async_write_object_stream.py
+++ b/packages/google-cloud-storage/google/cloud/storage/asyncio/async_write_object_stream.py
@@ -124,7 +124,9 @@ async def open(self, metadata: Optional[List[Tuple[str, str]]] = None) -> None:
                 resource = _grpc_conversions.blob_to_proto(self.blob)
             else:
                 resource = _storage_v2.Object(
-                    name=self.object_name, bucket=self._full_bucket_name
+                    name=self.object_name,
+                    bucket=self._full_bucket_name,
+                    storage_class="RAPID",
                 )
             self.first_bidi_write_req = _storage_v2.BidiWriteObjectRequest(
                 write_object_spec=_storage_v2.WriteObjectSpec(
diff --git a/packages/google-cloud-storage/tests/unit/asyncio/test_async_write_object_stream.py b/packages/google-cloud-storage/tests/unit/asyncio/test_async_write_object_stream.py
index 2fcca43b0882..1e03b87b8aa4 100644
--- a/packages/google-cloud-storage/tests/unit/asyncio/test_async_write_object_stream.py
+++ b/packages/google-cloud-storage/tests/unit/asyncio/test_async_write_object_stream.py
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ async def test_open_new_object(self, mock_rpc_cls, mock_client):
         initial_request = call_args.kwargs["initial_request"]
         assert initial_request.write_object_spec is not None
         assert initial_request.write_object_spec.resource.name == OBJECT
+        assert initial_request.write_object_spec.resource.storage_class == "RAPID"
         assert initial_request.write_object_spec.appendable
 
         assert stream.is_stream_open