How could Asics let Clayton Young go??

I actually was very curious about this switch as well. Asics was always supportive of his YouTube videos and he was always super complimentary of their shoes. Allegedly he did a lot of “lab testing” which seemingly swayed his decision, but I think it’s silly to indirectly blame Asics for his injury and think Brooks will prevent something like this from happening again. I’m a big Clayton fan, but let’s be honest- he wasn’t happy with his Worlds performance, was a little jealous of Connor’s AR prep leading into Chicago, and immediately jumped back into heavy marathon training for Valencia. I’m no pro but watching Clayton do this, and then Connor pace his wife a week after Chicago, it’s no surprise they both got major injuries.

Now he and Stage 4 Clinger are teammates. The SLC crew has a lot of different brands represented on the Saturday long run.

Outside the US he's not at all well known even among people who follow running. Brooks probably gets a much larger fraction of its sales in the US than Asics, so I'm not surprised if Brooks gives him a better deal.

I did not even know he was sponsored by ASICS until I saw the title of another thread on this board. And I have seen him in many races including the OT, the Olympic and the WC.

I rarely think about the shoe sponsors whenever I see pro races, whether it's track or road. I usually run in NB, and that has nothing to do with any pro runner they sponsor. I have a pair of VF for racing. Those are the only carbon plate shoes available when I bought the original version in 2020.

Most Asics employees have no idea who Clayton Young is.

I say this with all due respect to Clayton. I think he’s a great ambassador for the sport, seems like a good guy and I’m a big fan

clayton needs asics more than asics needs Clayton. Asics is arguably a top 2-3 running shoe brand top to bottom. They are simply too big and have too much clout to have to rely on athletes to sell products

reminds me of Titleist and golf equipment. They let Tiger and Rory go because they knew they would sell regardless

Asics may be a more international brand than brooks, but not larger and poorly represented by marketing in the US.

Clayton’s videos are top notch, and that does mean a lot to a brand.

Listen, running is not like basketball where the latest Jordan’s moved the needle every year.

If I’m Brooks, I take a clean, smart, appealing American.

ASICS can have a thousand Japanese runners who maybe aren’t clean, and who never get closer to medaling on a world stage than Clayton Young.

This rings true for me. I really like Clayton, seems like a super nice guy, and he is a good runner, good for the sport etc. But, I never chose to wear Asics for racing because of him, I wear them because they are great shoes. And, I sure as heck am not switching to Brooks because of him. That said, if this year after switching to Brooks he suddenly runs a 2:04 I’d be tempted to try them.

He should have joined Hansons; he could still run in Brooks. 😆

wow, a pair of shoes! running contracts are one thing. charity.

Asics only sponsored 1 video series, the lead up to the Olympics I believe. The rest were sponsored by different companies.

My boy is at Asics and let me tell you, Asics is not happy.

The Ray is an incredible shoe. Once you try it, going back to the Vaporfly feels like going back to the pre-super shoe era. Incredible cushioning, and it feels weightless. It is definitely unstable, but in straight lines, at speed, it's fine. Tight turns and cambers are an issue.

Few athletes get paid a decent amount in this sport, however, this was poor timing for Clayton as his PR is 2:08 and being an Olympian, etc was likely on a decent salary. Now you have Biya (2:06), Ethan Shurley (2:07) and Matt Richman (2:07) over the last 15 months. if you're a shoe company you can take some chances and likely spend the same $ across a few athletes and hop one of them pops off and breaks the tape like Richman did

Also in what could have been the biggest win of his career, 2024 Oly Trials, he pushed Mantz across the line first -

I really like Clayton - but he's a great teammate in an individual sport

Hopefully this works better for Brooks than Emily Infeld who took their money and refused to race in their shoes for an entire year or Aliphine that they signed 15 months ago and she has never raced and probably never will again.
Clayton is at the end of his career and has very little chance to make another Olympic team based on his age and the average length of the Mormon career. ASICS knew this and set up a very lucrative contract that was very heavily performance based. Clayton was not willing to bet on himself. If Clayton makes the Olympic team in 2028 he would make twice as much money with ASICS. Clayton does not believe that will happen but he will publicly say different. If he believed he would have stuck with ASICS.

There’s obviously value for sponsors beyond the racing times of athletes, but the truth is that all of these American male marathoners are closer to the world’s best females than the world’s best males.

Strange. He’s well known in the running community in South Africa.

I have made similar comments and always get down voted. Why? This is exactly the score.