Why was Anna Kournakova such a hot commodity when she never ranked higher than #8? Because she is/was hot, and sex sells. No one wanted to see Lindsay Davenport, even though she was playing at the same time and was much better.
You can eat your own KournAkova while sitting and spinning on your Davenport.
I clearly posted Kournikova's last name.
You don't know tennis. You don't know anything but sex.
These posts are far too focused on "who is hotter" rather than actual marketability. Does attractiveness matter? Of course. But it's much more about relatability and a general aspirational quality.
Think of a 16-year-old girl or her mother. The girl is probably going to follow athletes who have something in common with her, who she'd like to be friends with, who she would one day like to be like. The mother is going to connect with athletes who remind her of her daughter or her daughter's friends.
no 16 year old girl has ANYTHING in common with Tuohy. She's literally a genetic freak physique wise for a girl.
The only high school distance runner I've seen look like that was Becca Noble.
This post is so silly. She doesn’t even look very different from the very girl in the picture with her. She’s in the middle of the race- I ran with a few girls who looked exactly like this I’m high school: they were very good 800 runners but not genetic freaks.
Who wins, will be most marketable. Looks are great. Being good looking sure helps. And both of them are attractive enough their looks are an asset. But winning is the best marketing. They're not models, they're athletes.
Touhy. Every person on my daughter's XC team knows who Touhy is; very few before Saturday had any idea who Parker Valby is. Now that the captain of the team sent out a video of yesterday's race, they may remember Valby, but as the person who lost to Touhy. They cheered for Touhy, they were amazed by Touhy, they want to run like Touhy.
These girls will be 30 year old women one day spending money on running gear. Unless Parker Valby has a hugely successful pro career, which she may or may not, they won't remember her. But they won't forget Touhy.
Katelyn is already an icon, and doesn't even have to put much effort into her image because she is just that good.
Any brands who don't see that just haven't been paying attention to the sport for the last 8 years.
I say this with great respect to Parker Valby--she's new to the elite running scene and has had a great 2022, but it's yet to be seen if she is here to stay or not.
Katelyn is for sure here to stay. There is only so many times when you can make the argument she's a washed up high schooler, and every NCAA title she wins negates that argument. She won the NCAA's grandest price, the XC title.
Touhy. Every person on my daughter's XC team knows who Touhy is; very few before Saturday had any idea who Parker Valby is. Now that the captain of the team sent out a video of yesterday's race, they may remember Valby, but as the person who lost to Touhy. They cheered for Touhy, they were amazed by Touhy, they want to run like Touhy.
These girls will be 30 year old women one day spending money on running gear. Unless Parker Valby has a hugely successful pro career, which she may or may not, they won't remember her. But they won't forget Touhy.
