HOKA ONE ONE, a division of Deckers Brands, has announced the 2021 additions to its EMEA elite athlete team, further growing its impressive roster of world-renowned talent.
Known for its high-performance footwear, HOKA has signed 21 new international competitors, joining its current 73 strong team of triathletes, trail stars, and road and track athletes.
The new additions join forces with top EU-wide talent, including:
- Triathlon legend and Olympic gold medallist, Jan Frodeno (DE);
- Winner of the HOKA Project Carbon X 2 100k women’s race, Audrey Tanguy (FR);
- IRONMAN champion, Joe Skipper (UK), and
- Dutch favourite, Tessa Kortekaas (NL), to name a few.
“We are incredibly proud to expand our line-up of world-class athletes and are excited to bring together some of the world’s leading, performance-minded talent,” said Daljiat Gill, Head of Marketing for HOKA EMEA.
“Each of our athletes show a great dedication to sport, and we look forward to providing them with high- performance, innovative footwear and apparel as they complete in some of the world’s most challenging races.”
With many 2020 races cancelled due to Covid-19, the last year has seen athletes focus on training and preparation ahead of their return to competition in 2021. All athletes hope to make an emergence from the lockdown as fixture lists slowly repopulate, and HOKA adds that it looks forward to celebrating their successes.
For 2021, there are a total of 30 UK-based athletes, with 11 new signings, including international names, as well as up-and-coming talent. Split across trail (4 athletes), triathlon (13 athletes) and road (13 athletes), HOKA is welcoming:
- Current UK 5000m champion, Jessica Judd (track);
- Former U23 European Cross-Country champion, Jonathan Davies (track); and
- Olympian and IRONMAN triathlete, Lucy Hall (triathlon).
In addition to this, HOKA will partner with Hayley Carruthers (road), Khahisa Mhlanga (track) and Carla Molinaro (ultra). They join existing HOKA triathletes, David McNamee, George Goodwin, and Nikki Bartlett.
HOKA athlete, Jessica Judd said “I am really excited to be part of the HOKA family. I was attracted to the brand because the team really care about their athletes, the wider running community and the positive effects of exercise on wellbeing.
“My goals for 2021 are to get back racing and to get faster over 1500m and 5k. I hope to make a global championship but based on the unpredictability of last year, I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
