Christian Taylor Adidas Spokes while wearing Nike kit?!?!

Looks like an athlete without a deal. He was Li-Ning's top T&F athlete just a couple of years ago. Maybe the brand got out of the sport.

Kit was purple so I'm sure he has a Nike deal. No clue tho

Adidas also had purple gear. There was an Adidas guy in the 3000 with a purple singlet among all the Nike purple.

Okay to be more specific his kit was clearly a purple Nike kit. He may just like the adidas spikes better or forgot his, who really knows

He's legit Nike sponsored, he wouldn't have been wearing the kit he was at Doha otherwise. He's jumping in the same Adidas spikes that he's been using since 2012 (he also wore them while a Li-Ning athlete). It blows me away that he wore his Adidas spikes in the way that he did, no de-branding or anything. The Adidas stripes were plainly visible.

It's especially weird considering that Nike does actually provide spike covers for their athletes that use other companies' spikes. E.G. Derek Drouin high jumps in the same Adidas spikes that he used in college:

http://storage.theobserver.ca/v1/dynamic_resize/sws_path/suns-prod-images/1297589318202_ORIGINAL.jpg?quality=80&size=650x&stmp=1406747534709

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCzZjKaWYAAA760.png:large

What I don't understand, is how Nike doesn't change its shoe design. The worst model of shoe that they make, is the HJ spike. Many elites have complained about the sole, but yet, Nike has essentially stuck with the same sole for over a decade.

Nike athletes that do NOT wear a Nike HJ spike:

Barshim (Oly medalist)

Kynard (Oly medalist)

Drouin (Oly medalist)

Barrett (Oly medalist

Ukhov (Nike sprint spike) (Oly Champion)

That should tell you something.

The Adidas TJ model is very wide and stable. The Nike TJ spike, is much narrower. I'm sure Nike had a word with CT.

A couple of years ago WR hurdler Aries Merrit was a Reebok athlete. I believe he is with Nike now. But I was shocked to see that Reebok was still involved in any way with the sport. They had a major presence back in the early to mid 90's.

Christian Taylor is now officially a Nike sponsored athlete. He has only this past week signed with Nike and is awaiting his new custom shoes.

been around wrote:

What I don't understand, is how Nike doesn't change its shoe design. The worst model of shoe that they make, is the HJ spike. Many elites have complained about the sole, but yet, Nike has essentially stuck with the same sole for over a decade.

Nike athletes that do NOT wear a Nike HJ spike:

Barshim (Oly medalist)

Kynard (Oly medalist)

Drouin (Oly medalist)

Barrett (Oly medalist

Ukhov (Nike sprint spike) (Oly Champion)

That should tell you something.

The Adidas TJ model is very wide and stable. The Nike TJ spike, is much narrower. I'm sure Nike had a word with CT.

Um except fort he fact that Barshim does wear Nike high jump spikes

ijenns318 wrote:

Um except fort he fact that Barshim does wear Nike high jump spikes

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.themalaysianinsider.com%2Fsports%2Farticle%2Fbarshim-the-asian-exception-in-track-and-field&ei=PuxXVeWfIOaHsQStoYHACA&bvm=bv.93564037,d.cWc&psig=AFQjCNH_HjHNku4QoDiDr_Y3xm4J4-Xq6Q&ust=1431911851483290

Um except for the fact that you are completely wrong and the picture you linked to proves it. That is very clearly the spike cover that a previous poster already mentioned. It has been well-known for a while that Barshim has not worn Nike jump spikes.

What brand were his socks!!!??!?!? How about his duffel bag?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?

Sunglasses!!!????!!!!

OMG!!! wrote:

What brand were his socks!!!??!?!? How about his duffel bag?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?

Sunglasses!!!????!!!!

What do you expect the reaction would be if Ronaldo showed up to his next game in Adidas cleats? What Taylor did and this phenomenon of Nike athletes opting for competitor brand shoes merits discussion.

With zero sarcasm... this is shocking.

We are talking about NIKE for f*&%'s sake. They can't make a competition shoe that the sponsored athletes like... wow.

Boom. End of thread.

Paul Doyle wrote:

Christian Taylor is now officially a Nike sponsored athlete. He has only this past week signed with Nike and is awaiting his new custom shoes.