I find it odd that adidas thought to invest so much in him and he really has not produced as a pro. Do they see value in him via social media and are ok with his pro races? There are A LOT more deserving running who should be under contract with a shoe company and are not.
There are young people in every sport making lots of money despite not meeting enormous expectations. No reason that running should be an exception.
I'm really hoping that Drew will turn it around. Not sure what happened with the recent 5k, but he was showing signs of being in good shape during indoor.
Nike tends to lock up the top guys. Adidas took a risk thinking they could match Nike with Hunter. (Think under armour signing young injured Steph curry) Hunter's agent negotiated smart contract 10 yrs, no cut, college, continued Tin/mom coaching.
Hasn't been a big win for Adidas, but they have to honor contract, and they still can get use from him as part of their 'stable' of sponsored athletes. Meet and greets, pr, shoe testing, motivational speaking, print ads. He's not a diva, he'll reliably handle his responsibilities.
In frame of entire Adidas running shoe budget, he's not a big cost. Win some, lose some - ya gotta stay in the game.
This is no different than signings in other sports like baseball. Some team goes nuts for a high school lefty with a 102 MPH heater and ink him to a big deal with an obscene bonus. Pitches half a season of AA ball, gets hurt, has Tommy John surgery, and never regains velocity nor develops any new pitches. Leaves the game at age 21 with the team still paying him millions to satisfy the terms of the contract.
He was a fast high schooler who seemed to have a lot of potential. If most these types don't live up to the potential, but every now and then there is a Webb or Jakob caliber runner, the company that signs them still makes out.
He was a fast high schooler who seemed to have a lot of potential. If most these types don't live up to the potential, but every now and then there is a Webb or Jakob caliber runner, the company that signs them still makes out.
But at least in Drew Hunter's case he has gotten Adidas publicity in ways other than him running fast, so it's not a total loss for Adidas.
He was a fast high schooler who seemed to have a lot of potential. If most these types don't live up to the potential, but every now and then there is a Webb or Jakob caliber runner, the company that signs them still makes out.
Webb and Jakob were running significantly faster at 18 than Hunter was running at 19. I never did understand the hype around Hunter
I guess I assumed they wanted a poster child for young ultra conservatives wearing their shoes, and that he only needed to be just good enough to get into pro meets.
I know this has been brought up but it seems very obvious if you watch Drew run. He is extremely inefficient with a lot of foot instability. I think he does slightly better at short distances because the inefficiency is less of a factor. He probably has a monster engine VO2 max wise but not a good enough “body” to use it all.