Clayton Young ends partnership with Asics

https://www.instagram.com/_clayton_young_/p/DV_9kv9CE0z/

Well then, it's back to PF Flyers for me!

His next sponsor will be Li-Ning or Puma

It's called a J-O-B.

Does he have to go with Nike?

Dude is fast and all, but what the brands should care about is that great head of lettuce. How does his hair look that good at that speed?

I feel as if Nike makes sense, not that Eyestone is a Nike coach, but Diljeet is and I imagine all those in the general Nike group of athletes get access to the Swoosh TC benefits. He watches Mantz and all those Nike gals get access to x,y,z and he may not.

I could also see a different brand dumping money into him as another face of their move to an American road market, think Kiprun, Li-Ning, etc. Wonder if he would join someone like Puma and move groups? Have people to run with down in NC and not just get dropped by Mantz daily.

Whatever the case, it will likely be his last contract, so it needs to be a reasonably good one. He’ll eventually move on to an engineering job probably, but there’s a massive opportunity cost here and a family to support, so he needs to maximize this window. And that’s likely what he’s doing. But good for him. You’re only Young once.

Looks like his build is going well. Anyone know if he’s running Boston?

Athletes like Clayton are in a tough spot. Clearly competing for World teams, and what most would consider a top American runner, but just isn't viewed as a marketable athlete like the truly best in the world. So he I'm sure believes, and probably rightly so, he deserves a contract commensurate with someone that is competing at world class level. But the dollars offered are much closer to someone not nearly as fast but has a social media following.

I'm sure Asics was hoping he'd eventually become a 2:05 guy, but that's just not going to happen at this point. So it's probably best both move on. But I'm sure it'll be a tough pill to swallow for him when he finally has to settle for a lessor contract because that's just how the market views good-not-great runners like him. I wish it wasn't that way, and guys that do it the "right way" got rewarded, but as we all know that's just not how it works.

That’s NEVER going to happen, Eyestone is clearly the best fit for him.

And he's signed with Brooks...

Brooks, confirmed via Citius on IG.

He wouldn’t have to leave his current training group though right? Ja’Quavious Harris is a saucony athlete as well as Ward and Casey is a Brooks athlete.

I'm not sure. I think had he been able to run Valencia, a very fast course with tons of similarly fast guys to run for pure time vs placement with (versus getting left behind in a surge or strung out behind a lead pack like in Chicago/Boston), 2:05-2:06 was a real possibility for him. He's had a handful of great performances between Trials, Olympics, and Worlds, where he's run very close to guys much faster than him. 2:07 low as Boston was a bit disappointing, but given he's only 32, I think he's shown flashes of 2:05/2:06 ability, and he's clearly been a better championship runner than TT/Major/Paced runner. I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up with a better PR eventually, while still making LA28 over some
"faster" guys when it comes to the trials race in STL/PHX.

Hope he got a pile of money, because their racers are poop.

Gap to connor is gonna get bigger

About time.

He ended or they ended the partnership?

You sound like he was the one making the decision. Asics dropped him. He's getting old and made no progress in recent years.