kellyn taylor dropped by Hoka?

There are NB athletes aging out, too. The odds are high of Valby continuing to make teams (that means eyeballs). Arguably, she is currently the best candidate to potentially break American records in the 10000m, the Half-Marathon, and even the Marathon some day.

Maybe it is an interesting debate whether a shoe company gets value in going with just a single PV type, versus spreading the money around to more athletes to increase the odds of nabbing a winner.

Rachel Schneider is probably next to be kicked to the curb. Baby pictures and family stuff seems to be priority 1. Not that there's anything wrong with that but it's not winning races and making teams....

Don't know the story here but as another former HOKA athlete, yes! This is how they end things. Ignoring, ghosting, and moving on after long contracts.

Where is Scott Fauble and what is he doing?

who?

I follow running reasonably closely and have never heard of this person, so the fact she’s been dropped by a sponsor does not shock me.

Des also hosts a podcast, does media appearances and works to make herself appealing outside of running. She has a good personality. That’s why she will continue to be sponsored/paid to be an ambassador for the sport/brand.

You don’t follow running closely

If you're no longer useful, then it's time to go. This is business- not charity. That's how it works in the real world.

Linden is also a very capable announcer, a very popular podcaster, and very popular on social media (212K followers on IG, and 106K on Twitter; Taylor is 25K on IG, and 9.4K on Twitter; Rothstein is 98K on IG and 46K on Twitter, which is better).

When runners aren't good enough to make some waves for their sponsor through the running, they have to move on. For some of us, that happens when we leave D3; for others, in their 40s. At that point, it's be an influencer or move to something else. Taylor and Rothstein are not influencers on the same level as Des Linden, nor do they have the running accolades (see above, and also note that Linden is the 50k world record holder).

Edited to add: on the other hand, if Kellyn's real gripe is a dropping without so much as a "thanks for your efforts over the years, and all you've done for us" congratulatory post, I can see that.

Nothing says "future marathon record holder" like the person who's so injury prone that she can't run more than 3 days a week

I think it's the right move to move on. They simply aren't relevant anymore. Sign some younger Americans already.

As a post-collegiate pro, she has been less injury prone than Tuohy. Facts.

I actually had to look up who she was. And just that alone says she should be dropped.

She’s 15 min slower than the WR. There’s many 2:15-2:10 American men that make $0 from the sport.

Des is pretty active outside of her running career. I know she is one of the announcers for the Houston Marathon/Half-Marathon for the last few years. There's just more eyeballs on Des Linden than there is for Kellyn Taylor. That's just the reality. Do you know how many middle aged women who are active runners in their local run club who know who Des Linden is? It's significantly more than Kellyn Taylor.

A couple things about this... #1, Hoka has made a lop of changes in their marketing strategies the last couple years. They dropped sponsorship of a bunch of mid-size road races, including the one I produce. They got in a lot heavier with Ironman, big time trail, Foot Locker XC. They started up a fairly robust NIL program. They're showing that the execs have a lot of creativity and are willing to shake up the existing mold to chase whatever goals they have. We were sad to lose their sponsorship, which by all accounts during our closure meeting had been a home run in 2023, but I understand why.

#2, Taylor's age and recent results is just one factor. If she was rocking her promotion of the brand, doubtful Hoka would have terminated the contract. They sponsor a lot of lesser athletes. Sponsorship isn't about how good an athlete you are, it's about what value you can deliver to the brand. Or what the brand's perception of that value is.