Marathoner Kellyn Taylor started posting to social media in late November that changes were coming to her deal with her longtime sponsor, Hoka. “When a company devalues you after you turn a certain age, that’s wrong,” she wrote on her Instagram stories. On New Year’s Eve, she posted a video of herself tossing a Hoka shoebox in a recycling bin.
Australian Sprinter, 16, Runs Record-Breaking 200m not renewed by Hoka at the end of the year. Other athletes took a more conciliatory approach to announcing contract changes on social media. Aliphine Tuliamuk, 35, the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials champion, CA Notice at Collection on December 31 that it was her last day representing Hoka and NAZ Elite. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for believing in me and giving me some of the best memories that I will carry with me forever,” she wrote.
Olympian Emily Infeld posted that she was no longer a Nike athlete after 12 years, noting that she signed in October 2012 as a 22-year-old, and hinting at a new sponsor. “When one door closes, another door opens,” she wrote, with an emoji, adding, “Stay tuned!”
Beginner Running Gear Molly Seidel told Runner’s World that her contract with Puma ended on December 31. Talks with company representatives are ongoing, she said.
USATF’s 2023 Taxes Show Growing Budget Deficit. Emily Durgin, 30, who finished ninth at the Olympic Marathon Trials after falling in the final meters of the race, recently signed a new deal with Adidas.
Durgin told Runner’s World the company had an option year for 2025 but instead of taking the option (at her previous level of pay), Adidas representatives wrote a new, more generous contract to take her through 2028. “I really appreciate Adidas committing to me for the next four years,” she said, noting that her agent, Josh Cox, negotiated the favorable terms for her. “It meant a lot to me.”
It’s not surprising that many athlete contracts are in flux at the end of an Olympic year; the majority of sponsorship deals are written to take an athlete through December 31 after the Games.
But as the new year dawns, many athletes seem to be more open about where things stand and are offering clues to the complexity of the business side of the sport (at least on the women’s side; few men have spoken publicly about what they’re dealing with). Durgin said she was inspired by the public fight the U.S. women’s national soccer team had for equal pay in 2022 to try to advise younger athletes who come to her and share information where she could.
This requires a balancing act, because most distance runner contracts contain confidentiality clauses that prohibit them from discussing the terms of their deals.
“I wish people had the ability to talk more about it, because so much of this is guarded in secrecy,” Seidel said. “I don’t love that aspect about contracts. More than anything, I just want things that give more power to athletes, like being able to have the liberty to say what your situation is. I think that is really important.”
As more athletes are forthcoming about their status, it makes moving between shoe companies more normal.
Seidel said when she first entered the world of pro running in 2016, she was told by a brand representative—she declined to say which one—that she shouldn’t change shoe companies too much during her career. “I was told that if you jump around [between] brands too much, you’re seen as a bit of a ‘brand slut,’” Seidel said. “I feel like that was just such a horrible thing to say.” Seidel’s first deal was with Saucony; after she made the 2020 Olympic team, she signed with Puma.
Switching companies allows athletes more power to walk away from deals with terms that are unfavorable to them, she said, and she’s glad the stigma around moving between brands is disappearing. “Like, hey, I don’t have to put up with reductions [clauses that reduce an athlete’s pay if they’re not racing to a certain level or if they’re injured] or being treated really [badly] by a brand,” she said. “I have the power to go to a place that I’m wanted.”
Seidel, 30, is coming off lingering knee problems that kept her out of racing for all of 2024—poor timing for renegotiating a contract, even for an Olympic medalist. On December 31, when she spoke to Runner’s World, she had just finished a 90-minute run, but on some days she deals with intermittent pain. She is trying to get to the root cause.
Puma, she said, continues to be supportive in helping her with biomechanics testing. She has no concerns about her own deal, even though she is facing uncertainty.
“I feel like I’m trying to become more comfortable in that, because it’s like, sometimes things do need to fall apart a bit in order to come back together in the right way,” she said. “It’ll figure itself out without me trying to push or be really stressed that it’s not happening exactly how I wanted it to. That’s how my whole marathon career has been.”
Taylor told Runner’s World in a text message that she’s training well after the anxiety of the fall.
“Honestly a huge load of stress is off of me that’s been present the last couple of years with all of the coaching/team changes and trying to meet certain expectations,” she wrote, in part. “It’s been fun to feel excited and have a sense of purpose and hunger. I’m just deciding how I want to proceed as far as a coach. I’ve been coaching myself but realize that that’s probably not the best format for someone with my drive.”
Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World DAA Industry Opt Out, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
