Skechers Performance™ Elite Athletes Dominate the Podium at 2017 IRONMAN® World Championship
· Lionel Sanders and David McNamee Finished Second and Third in the Men’s Competition
· Lucy Charles Took Second Place in the Women’s Competition
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Skechers Performance™, a division of SKECHERS USA, Inc. (NYSE:SKX), celebrates the success of elite triathletes racing in Skechers GOrun® footwear at the 2017 IRONMAN® World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on Saturday, October 14. Lionel Sanders and Lucy Charles each finished second in their respective men’s and women’s competitions, and David McNamee took third place for the men.
Skechers Performance Elite Athlete Lionel Sanders. Photo by @Activ'Images
In his third appearance at the IRONMAN® World Championship, Sanders logged career-best splits on the swim, bike and run segments to cross the finish line in 8:04:07. Lucy Charles, who raced in Kona this year for the first time as a professional, surprised her competition by leading for much of the race before finishing in 8:59:38. David McNamee challenged Sanders late into the run finishing just behind him for third place in a time of 8:07:11.
“This race was a battle, but that’s what I live for and what I love about this sport,” said Sanders. “The run was tough and going against my fellow Skechers Performance teammate, David McNamee, right up to the end was incredible. The result was awesome, but to me it’s all about how you get there.”
Sanders, a native of Ontario, Canada, first took up the sport of triathlon in 2009 as part of his recovery from substance abuse and has since become a dominant force in the sport. He won his debut race as a professional in 2013 at the IRONMAN 70.3 Muskoka before going on to set the previous IRONMAN triathlon World Record at the 2016 IRONMAN® Arizona, with a time of 7:44:29. Most recently, he won the 2017 ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in a time of 5:20:36.
Great Britain’s Lucy Charles, a former professional swimmer who made her professional debut in 2016, rose to the top of the sport within a year, winning her first professional title at the 2017 IRONMAN® Lanzarote, where she set a new course record.
“I still have no words,” said Charles. “To think back to just a year ago, I never thought I’d even be on the start line in Kona, let alone standing on the podium. I couldn’t have done it without the support of my entire team whose belief in me got me across the finish line today.”
David McNamee, taking the bronze medal in the men’s competition and also from Great Britain, is the first British male in the 40-year history of the IRONMAN® World Championship to reach the podium. He had previously set the record as the fastest Brit to race in Kona with his 13th place finish and a time of 8:28:05 in 2016.
“We are so proud of Lucy, Lionel, and David on their incredible performances in Kona,” said Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers. “Triathlon is the ultimate test of endurance and perseverance, and their determination to overcome, cross the finish line and reach the podium is truly remarkable and inspirational. That they’ve each reached this level of success wearing Skechers GOrun® is a testament to fans that our performance footwear delivers when it matters most.”
Charles, Sanders, and McNamee were joined in Kona by fellow Skechers Performance triathlon athlete Andy Potts of Colorado Spring, Colorado, who finished the 2017 IRONMAN World Championship as the top male American finisher (8:14:43).
Since its debut with the first model of Skechers GOrun® worn by Meb Keflezighi in 2012, Skechers Performance™ footwear and apparel has earned respect throughout the running world and won numerous awards within the footwear industry. Skechers Performance™ is the official footwear sponsor of the 2017 IRONMAN® Canadian, European, and South Africa Tours.
For updates on the collection, visit GOSkechers.com and follow @SkechersPerformance on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The Skechers GOrun® collection is available at Skechers retail stores and skechers.com as well as select retail partners including run specialty stores.
About SKECHERS USA, Inc.
SKECHERS USA, Inc., based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, as well as performance footwear for men and women. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States and over 160 countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores, more than 2,438 SKECHERS Company-owned and third-party-owned retail stores, and the Company’s e-commerce websites. The Company manages its international business through a network of global distributors, joint venture partners in Asia and the Middle East, and wholly-owned subsidiaries in Canada, Japan, throughout Europe and Latin America. For more information, please visit skechers.com and follow us on Facebook(facebook.com/SKECHERS) and Twitter (twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company’s future domestic and international growth, financial results and operations including expected net sales and earnings, its development of new products, future demand for its products, its planned domestic and international expansion, opening of new stores and additional expenditures, and advertising and marketing initiatives. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking language such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will result,” “could,” “may,” “might,” or any variations of such words with similar meanings. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include international economic, political and market conditions including the uncertainty of sustained recovery in Europe; sustaining, managing and forecasting costs and proper inventory levels; losing any significant customers; decreased demand by industry retailers and cancellation of order commitments due to the lack of popularity of particular designs and/or categories of products; maintaining brand image and intense competition among sellers of footwear for consumers, especially in the highly competitive performance footwear market; anticipating, identifying, interpreting or forecasting changes in fashion trends, consumer demand for the products and the various market factors described above; sales levels during the spring, back-to-school and holiday selling seasons; and other factors referenced or incorporated by reference in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2017. The risks included here are not exhaustive. The Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time and the companies cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can the companies assess the impact of all such risk factors on their respective businesses or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Moreover, reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance.
SKECHERS USA, Inc.
Kelly O’Rourke
kellyor@skechers.com
(310)
424-8366
Source: SKECHERS USA, Inc.
Released Oct 25, 2017 • 5:54 pm EDT