Clayton Young ends partnership with Asics

I think Clayton Young was the Top American at the Tokyo World Championships. He’s proven to be a great warm weather championship racer.

I'd wager that he's got a 2:05 in him, as much as Mantz eventually has a 2:03 in him. Great training setup. Supportive family. The recipe clearly works. Go Young!

True, however for Clayton, he is Young his whole life!

Emily Infeld decided to sign with Brooks.

signed with brooks

flotrack.org

Clayton Young Signs With Brooks Ahead Of 2026 Season - FloTrack

John Davern

Clayton Young has signed with Brooks ahead of his 2026 Marathoning season, as announced today.

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I was wrong, sorry everyone.

Apology accepted. I appreciated the bold Li-Ning shout.

Anyone who says Young isn’t marketable doesn’t understand what brands care about. His actual ability or relative position in the world as a marathoner hardly matters here. 1.) He is an American Olympian two years out from likely competing once again to go to the Olympics this time in the US. And 2.) he has a solid YouTube presence that can easily be scaled with the resources of a big running shoe brand. 60-100k viewers is peanuts, also it’s so much more attractive that a 2:03-4 guy who speaks broken English and zero presence.

Sure, he’s no Noah Lyles or SML, but I’m confident he had plenty of suitors willing to pay him to wear their shoes.

I don’t know about a 2:05 at this point, maybe in Valencia, but his 2:07-low at Boston was a 2:06-low to mid on a normal, flat course in good conditions. Hopefully he’ll get another opportunity.

He just PRd a year ago at Boston, a race that would’ve been a sub-2:07 on a flat course in good conditions. Boston ran very fair w a slight headwind late.

And I know it’s meaningless to sponsors, but he was top ten in the Olympic marathon after being clearly the best American at the trials, but for deferring to Mantz. But, he is in the seventh inning stretch of his career now, so…

I was one of those who kept saying, "Save it for Valencia." Wish that he hadn't run Worlds, although I understand the attraction, particularly when that Worlds Marathon looked very much like a down year and that he had a better chance at a podium.

He's a 2:06 guy last year at Valencia, period.

I personally think that Young would be better in a time trial race, where he could put his head down and just follow the guys in front and get pulled along. Its, frankly, so similar to what he is used to doing in training. Surge/tactical races make him think too much. Every interview he does find him saying, "Well, when they went I didn't think that I could match that and I was feeling cooked right then, so they got 60 meters on me." Mantz, a much more emotional racer, throws the hat down and just goes. Not saying he isn't thinking, but it seems much more instinctive to go. Young thinks about and seems to get in his own head a bit.

Still, the multiple youtube series that he had done with various sponsors have been amazing, the best look behind the curtain of a modern, top level, American marathoner and have made him, I think, a favorite with a lot of people who wouldn't give a damn about elite marathoning.

He was top American @ Worlds, but i don't think we sent an especially strong team to represent. Did we even have another runner in the top 20?

I agree with you that his videos are great, but I doubt that they reach mainstream America. I think he's well known and liked in the community of running nerds, but Joe Six Pack has never heard of him.

Fact is Young is a 2:08 marathon runner which at the moment is far closer to what the top women are running than the men. I agree that on a legal course he's worth more - but that remains to be seen. But in his favour his videos are very well done and i think he can offer a lot to a sponsor beyond times as he is articulate, sincere and open on camera . He and Albertson are a good pair and should be good for Brooks. My heart tells me he (and Albertson) have that big breakthrough just around the corner. One last point, a bone of contention. Why did he let Mantz win the trial? Seems inexplicable to me and probably his only chance of winning a marathon.

*2:07:04 in Boston

I'm as big a Clayton Young fan as possible. But where these changes with agents, representation, business etc come, I think it basically comes down to Clayton Young has an irrational belief in himself. I think even he would admit that.

And it's the reason he's been successful to this point. If he stopped when people doubted him, he never would have made the Olympics, made himself what he is today. He is marketable, both as a former Olympian and as a popular youtube presence. Irrational self-confidence can be a tremendously beneficial trait in the pursuit of excellence.

But, I just think there's a disconnect. He also thinks he could be a WMM podium finisher. He thinks he could be an American Record holder. He thinks he could be an Olympic medalist. And I don't think a lot of the parties he's negotiating with see him the same way. I think that leads to disconnects, and a smaller company like Brooks is probably more willing to take a big swing with him than a large company like Asics.

I think he's a little displeased with not winning the trials and not running on a fast course such as Chicago in '25 and not being able to run Valencia '25.

Just speculating, I'm sure he and asics didn't always see eye to eye and he has to regret giving Mantz that trials victory. Kind of interesting in Mantz Chicago documentary he is barely in it or speaks

Verbiage is that it was a tough decision for him, meaning he had say in the matter. Most likely scenario is he was offered some amount to stay with Asics, and he didn't feel good about the offer, so he didn't accept and looked elsewhere. If your company gave you a pay cut or many years in a row without a pay raise, would you stay? Maybe maybe not.

More people know who "go one more syringe" is because of the marketing. Brands aren't marketing their athletes like that. It was good that he left Aiscs, it might even be better for his achilles but ask CJ Albertson how Brooks is with all of his 2:10 marathons.