After a solid four-year partnership, which has seen both sides go from strength-to-strength, the Skyrunner® World Series has announced that Outdoor footwear specialist, Merrell, will be the official title sponsor for the coming season.
The newly named Merrell Skyrunner® World Series is poised to become a highlight of the running season, bringing about significant enhancements for athletes, fans, and media. Developments in the series for the 2024 circuit include:
- Further global growth with more races in new locations including Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, and Turkey, therefore acting as a global platform for the outdoor brand and allowing Merrell to be present in many of its key markets.
- The new U23 Trofeo Esteban Olivero, an under 23 ranking which aims to support, develop and highlight young athletes.
In addition to serving as a platform to highlight Merrell’s latest innovations, it offers an excellent opportunity to test products, such as the new MTL Skyfire 2 and new MTL Long Sky 2 Matryx, on the challenging terrain for which they were specifically designed. Public shoe testing will also be made available at events throughout the calendar – a successful initiative that was tried and tested in 2023. Over the years, Merrell has always had a team of strong international athletes who have competed at the top level in the circuit, including Ragna Debats, Denisa Dragomir and the new rising star Louison Coiffet – to name a few – and we can expect to see many of Merrell’s incredible athletes representing the brand again in 2024.
Jonathan Quint, EMEA Product & Marketing Director of Merrell comments:
“We have a long history of partnership with the Skyrunner® World Series so to elevate our collaboration further enables us to further support the series and demonstrate Merrell’s commitment to elite trail running.
SWS operates at the pinnacle (literally and figuratively) of our sport and it’s clear that Merrell’s athletes and products do this too. The partnership gives a physical representation of this. But it’s more than that, we see the SWS team as great partners so that can both build on the great start we have had in the sport.
Our objective with this partnership is to further elevate our standing as a brand operating at the highest levels within the Trail Running environment. We see the combination of Merrell, the SWS and our elite athletes as the epitome of Trail credibility. We want to show that our products can take on the toughest challenges so that even if runners aren’t scaling the peaks of the SWS, they recognise that our shoes can take them wherever they wish to go. Ultimately, we want to inspire and encourage more people to run in nature and benefit from the impact the great Outdoors has on our well-being.”
Etienne Rodriguez, Managing Director of the Skyrunner® World Series comments:
“I’m very proud to be continuing our partnership with Merrell for the 5th year. Our extended collaboration allows both companies to continue to evolve a shared vision that will benefit the Series and the races within it, as well as the sport more broadly.
Merrell’s Title Sponsorship of the Series speaks to its commitment to competitive elite trail running. Running at this level requires a diverse line of trail running shoes that is very thoughtfully and expertly designed to overcome the variety of challenges posed by each SkyRace. Our runners require footwear that is lightweight and fast, grippy, stable, and durable. Merrell has created a line of high-performance trail running shoes with an edge, and that is perfectly suited to the Merrell Skyrunner® World Series. Merrell’s ambition to encourage people to run in nature aligns with our own.
In our effort to expand the Series globally, we want to provide opportunities for people to run in unique, beautiful places, up and down some of the world’s most captivating landscapes. With Merrell, we are well-equipped to bring our vision to reality.”
The Merrell Skyrunner® World Series starts on March the 2nd With Acantilados Skyrace on the island of La Palma before visiting 20 locations in four continents and finishing with the SkyMasters, Marato del Dements, in Spain on November the 16th.
2024 calendar
2024 circuit rules
MERRELL
