Jenny Simpson signs with Puma

I think it's more subtle....a running shoe company that has no visible professionals wearing the shoe can earn a brand image as not serious, soft, fashion-y, for hobbyists, behind the curve. Like Skechers for example. Whrease just being present in racing makes the brand appear more formidable and serious. Tells you that the brand is trying hard so their products are probably good.

So it doesn't matter as much which pros wear NB or Puma...as long as some of them do.

Of course, the holy grail is a charismatic success like Syd. That kind of sponsorship obvi makes a big difference.

Man.....they had me at Jsimp, Abby Steiner, and Prandini! I know they are not all distance folks but dont say Puma doesnt have athletes here. I could watch those 3 all day on the women's side.

BTW, when someone retires from the 15, why do we automatically go to the roads? Wouldnt a step up to 5/10 on the track be more attractive? (DL, Olympics, WC...) Assuming she doesnt go marathon of course as i understand the roads are where the $ is. Does she have a 10000 run on the track in her at her age?

LOL - one of the worst posts I have ever seen on Letsrun. You must have tuned out of the World Championships this past summer.

Please let me know who won the W400h and M1500. I think they were won in what may be described as "world class times", considering one was a WR.

Roads.. $$$$.. appearance fees along will be more than Jenny ever made on the track. If Jenny can pop a good half say 66-68 minutes. She is gonna get a hell of a lot of money when she choose a major marathon to debut. Imagine what NYC will pay her.

Every company has traditions that they maintain. This seems like one of Puma's.

This. Exactly. If corporations "do" charity it's by donating to charitable organizations or some such thing and not by giving jobs to people who do nothing for the company. Having recognizable athletes in your gear keeps your company's name in the minds of potential customers.

New Balance does make great shoes.

Saucony also makes great shoes. At least they work great for me. I’ve often wondered why they have no pros that they sponsor. Maybe they do and I’m not aware of them. I really don’t care if they do sponsor anyone because I’m glad that they keep putting $ into R&D and continue to make kick ass shoes.

Saucony has been lightning-in-a-bottle, hit-or-miss when it comes to athlete endorsement sponsorship over the past decade or two. They got Molly Huddle right out of ND and have gone to decent (if not great) lengths to keep her in-house. They also got Molly Seidel right out of ND and let her slip away once she made the Olympic Team in their gear. Though Huddle was relatively long-in-the-tooth and anything but a lock to make the team for Tokyo by that point. They've kept Laura Thweatt even though she hasn't exactly met the promise of her marathon debut, maybe they like her SM engagement. They didn't try to keep Noah Droddy after his sub-2:10, though they may have rightly figured he hit a career peak there and he maybe wasn't getting the type of SM engagement they wanted. They famously let Ben True get away, though like Droddy he didn't seem that willing to go in on SM marketing and engagement. They trotted out the Freedom TC coached by Tim Broe and then did nothing with that, certainly compared to what Hoka has done with NAZ Elite, what ON has done with OAC, or even what NB has done with NB Boston. For a legacy brand, Saucony has been kinda schizo in this regard, to be topped maybe only by Reebok and possibly Puma.

A good half in 66-68? More like a U.S. record.

I'll always respect Jenny because she had to run against so many dopers in the mile it's not even funny. Some of those years she was probably the only one in the mile championship final who isn't a proven doper. And she still somehow got a bunch of metals.

Why do people seem to root for runners to quit and disappear? If Letsrun was around people would have spent the past 40 years carping that Frank Shorter wasn't using his Yale degree properly.

She was seen by J.S. Brown. Why is Jenny supposed to be any cleaner than her 1500m competitors from 5 and 10 years ago?

Thats actually a smart choice and that shows how clueless you are. Deviate Nitro Elite just won bronze at the Olympics....

In addition - the Puma range is pretty good, is well priced, and the grip on their shoes is the best around by a mile, hands down.

I can guess how you'd arrive at that conclusion.

It’s hard to believe half of these posts are from true fans of the sport, people who have been around and following Jenny’s career closely. If so, I do not see how you could possibly write off someone as talented and fiercely ambitious as her, much less suggest she’s desperate to maintain relevance!

Let’s remember her entire collegiate career, all the records set, the massive/unexpected event change, the last 200m of almost any of her pro 1500m track races, and the many, many times she stormed down Fifth Avenue to victory. She has talent, great coaching, and incredible drive.

What, she’s “finished” because she’s not chasing gold in the 15? Because she “just” ran 3:58 at 2019 Worlds? She’s “irrelevant” just because she didn’t qualify in the 15 for the most recent Olympics? No, she just came back the very same year, raced 10 miles and placed second. Who does that?! What other 1500m runners have done that recently? Yet some on this board still suggest she couldn’t belong to the top names in road racing?!

If anyone can rise to the challenge, Jenny can.

Especially when she stammered and talked about the need for medical privacy when Gault asked her about it.

From the runnersworld article is sounds like NB dropped her? Definitely a fumble on their part.