Herzogenaurach, Germany, April 8, 2022
PUMA signs multi-year deal with Brazilian Athletics Federation
Global sports company PUMA has signed a multi-year contract with the Brazilian Confederation of Athletics (CBAt) effective July 2022, that will see Brazilian athletic teams in PUMA apparel for the first time at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA, this summer. The partnership includes sponsoring 24 adult and youth teams, including male and female athletes.

“We are very proud to partner up with the Brazilian Confederation of Athletics, which is the first time ever that PUMA sponsors a Brazilian national sports team, so it will be a landmark.” said Fabio Kadow, Marketing Director PUMA Brazil. “Their successful track record in world class athletics, with 19 Olympic medals, makes this partnership a perfect fit for PUMA.”

"Partnering with PUMA is a huge responsibility for us and a source of great pride”, said Wlamir Motta Campos, CBAt´s president. “I'm sure the athletics community will embrace PUMA, because we're talking about a product of excellence, a fantastic technology that will help the performance of our athletes."

PUMA has a long and rich history in Track & Field, having sponsored the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association since 2002. The brand also kits out several national federations including Cuba, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Dominican Republic, Norway, Switzerland, Portugal and South Africa. Individual PUMA sponsored athletes include World Champion 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm, pole vault star Armand "Mondo" Duplantis, triple Olympic medalist Andre De Grasse, long distance runner and Olympic medalist Molly Seidel, and triple jumpers Patricia Marmona and Will Claye.

Herzogenaurach, Germany, April 21, 2022
TRACK & FIELD MEETS CHESS IN NORWAY. PUMA AMBASSADORS KARSTEN WARHOLM AND MAGNUS CARLSEN TALK ABOUT ENJOYING THEIR SPORTS AND BEING COMPETITIVE

PUMA ambassadors and World Champions Karsten Warholm and Magnus Carlsen challenge themselves by entering each other’s worlds. In an interview with sports company PUMA, the Norwegian athletes speak about how they started training and competing in Track & Field and Chess, pointing out the importance of having fun while doing sport.

“It all starts with just having fun with whatever it is that you have an offer to go to”, Karsten says. “For me, it was all about meeting up with friends. That's what made me always come back”. Magnus also reflects on his experience, “I started specializing immediately when I was eight years old, but I didn't think about it that way. I would do chess all the time, not because somebody told me to, but because I loved it.”

The World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen and the 400m hurdles Olympic Champion Karsten Warholm discuss competitiveness and how they reached the highest level in their disciplines. “I think at some point you start competing against yourself”, Magnus says. “If I win a game and I didn’t perform well, I'm not going to be happy.”

“Somebody just enjoys winning and somebody just hates losing. When I win, that is somehow what I expect of myself. I think if you're not competitive, you are not able to make it on the highest level,”Karsten explained.

Since both achieved great goals in their sports, they speak about the best moment in their careers. Karsten has no doubts: Tokyo 2021 and his World Record at the Olympic Games. For Magnus, the Norwegian Chess Championship (under 11) in 2000 is something that he will never forget, because it was the first time he was ever the best.

Karsten and Magnus share the same Norwegian roots and they agree on why they feel that being part of the PUMA family is the best fit for them.

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EUGENE, USA, JULY 15, 2022
PUMA signs fastest Woman alive Elaine Thompson-Herah

Global sports brand PUMA has signed five-time Olympic champion and fastest woman alive Elaine Thompson-Herah. The 30-year-old Jamaican will further boost the company’s impressive roster of track and field athletes ahead of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Elaine Thompson-Herah is the first woman in history to win the "sprint double" at consecutive Olympics, capturing gold in both the 100 meter and 200 meter at the 2016 Rio Olympics and again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Apart from her historic Olympic achievements, Elaine Thompson-Herah became the fastest woman alive when she ran 10.54 seconds at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, USA, in 2021.

“We are thrilled that Elaine has chosen to join the PUMA family,” said PUMA CEO Bjørn Gulden. “With her speed she embodies everything we stand for as a brand. Elaine ran the second-fastest time in women's history last year and is only 0.05 seconds off a world record. She really targets the 100-meter world record and we want to help her achieve that goal with our most innovative performance products.”

PUMA has a long and rich history in Track & Field and has sponsored the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association since 2002. Elaine Thompson-Herah now joins her Jamaican compatriot, sprint superhero, world record holder and Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt.

“PUMA just felt like the right fit, a company that has been working with the World’s Fastest Man for decades,” said Elaine Thompson-Herah. “I’m excited to be part of such an elite group and can’t wait to get started. I really want to break the 100-meter world record. The current one has been undefeated for 34 years. Now is the time. I think there's still a lot I can unleash."

Herzogenaurach, Germany, August 10, 2022
PUMA signs South Korean High Jumper Woo Sanghyeok
Sports company PUMA has signed an agreement with successful South Korean high jumper Woo Sanghyeok, who will wear PUMA’s performance products starting at the Diamond League Meeting in Monaco

At 26 years old, Woo Sanghyeok already has several medals to his name such as gold at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade and silver at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. In 2022, he set a personal best and the Korean Record of 2.36 meters at the indoor event in Hustopeče, Czech Republic.

“We are very excited to welcome Sanghyeok to the PUMA family,” said Pascal Rolling, Head of Sports Marketing at PUMA. “We believe he will be among the best high jumpers in the world in the next years.”

At PUMA, Woo Sanghyeok will join a roster of world-class athletes such as 400m hurdles World Record Holder Karsten Warholm, pole vault World Record Holder Armand “Mondo” Duplantis and Jamaican sprinters Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah.

São Paulo, Brazil, August 11, 2022
Sprinter Vitória Rosa is PUMA's new athlete and global ambassador
PUMA announces sprinter Vitória Rosa as its new athlete and global ambassador. One of the great names in Brazilian track and field, as well as a promise for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Vitória represented Brazil at the 2016 Olympic Games at just 20 years old and last year at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. In addition, the athlete was a gold, silver and bronze medalist at the Pan American Games in Lima 2019, South American champion in 2017, 2019 and 2021, as well as a finalist in the Outdoor World Championship in London 2017 with the Brazilian 4x100m relay team.

Currently, the 26-year-old is #20 in the world ranking for the 200m sprint and having competed since 2013, Vitória is in the best phase of her career. The athlete, in her competition debut wearing PUMA, broke the South American 200m record at the Oregon World Championships, with a time of 22.47s. The former record had gone unbeaten since 2011. Earlier this year, the sprinter also achieved the South American Indoor record in the 60m sprint with a time of 7.14s at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, being the first South American woman to be a finalist in this race.

The arrival of Vitória Rosa to the PUMA team follows the recent partnership between the global sports brand and the Brazilian Athletics Confederation (CBAt), in vigor until 2024, when the Paris Olympics will take place. Vitória also joins a strong team in the Women's category of PUMA Brazil, with names such as Bruna Marquezine, Isis Valverde, Larissa Manoela and Isa Pacheco, reinforcing the brand's support of women in sport.

Herzogenaurach, Germany, December 5, 2022
PUMA congratulates Armand “Mondo” Duplantis on being named Male Athlete of the Year
Sports company PUMA congratulates Swedish pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis on being named Male Athlete of the Year after winning two World Championships, the European Championship, the Diamond League and setting a new world record twice in 2022.

Since first breaking the pole vault world record in February 2020, Mondo has been in a class of his own. He won gold at the 2020 Olympic Games, the 2022 World Athletics Championships – both indoor and outdoor –the 2022 European Championships and the Diamond League. He also improved on his world record performance twice in 2022, which now stands at 6.21 meters.

At only 23 years old, Mondo, who started pole vaulting in his parents’ backyard as a child, says he still has more to achieve in his sport.
“I’m very grateful for the position I’m in right now, but I feel that there is still a lot more work ahead of me and that I can reach much higher goals,” Mondo told PUMA after winning the award. “I’m going to try to keep pushing the limits, pushing the barriers, and see how far I can go. I really believe that I still have more in the tank.”

Mondo, who has been a PUMA Athlete since 2019, performs in PUMA’s EvoSpeed Tokyo Nitro shoes, which combines PUMA’s responsive, nitrogen-injected foam midsole with a state-of-the-art carbon-fibre infused upper and a lightweight spike outsole.

Current world records in PUMA shoes are triple jump (Jonathan Edwards, 1995), 1,000m (Noah Ngeny, 1999), 3,000m Steeplechase (Saif Saaeed Shaheen, 2004), 100m and 200m (Usain Bolt, 2009), 400m hurdles (Karsten Warholm, 2021), and pole vault (Mondo Duplantis, 2022).

Eugene, USA, July 13, 2022
PUMA takes its “Forever Faster” spirit to the World Athletics Championships with strong athletes and products

Sports company PUMA will outfit 12 federations and several medal contenders at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA, and provide them with its latest Nitro technology, so they can perform at their best.

Ever since its foundation in 1948, it has been the company’s philosophy to provide the fastest athletes with the fastest products, an attitude summarized in the brand’s motto “Forever Faster.”

In Eugene, individual PUMA athletes, performing in PUMA’s footwear technology, include 400m hurdles world-record holder Karsten Warholm, pole vault world-record holder Armand "Mondo" Duplantis, triple Olympic medalist Andre De Grasse, Ukrainian indoor high-jump world champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh, triple jumpers Patricia Marmona and Will Claye and many more.

The athletics federations of Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, the British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Jamaica, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland and Trinidad and Tobago will all perform in PUMA apparel.

“Track and field is sports and athleticism in its purest form and embedded in the very core of PUMA,” said PUMA CEO Bjørn Gulden. “We are proud that many world records were set in our shoes and we are looking to our athletes writing the next chapter in sports history in Eugene.”

Current world records in PUMA shoes are triple jump (Jonathan Edwards, 1995), 1,000m (Noah Ngeny, 1999), 3,000m Steeplechase (Saif Saaeed Shaheen, 2004), 100m and 200m (Usain Bolt, 2009), 400m hurdles (Karsten Warholm, 2021), and pole vault (Mondo Duplantis, 2022).

PUMA heads to Eugene with improved versions of its successful evoSPEED NITRO spikes, making them even lighter and more competitive. For Norwegian hurdler and world-record holder Karsten Warholm, PUMA created the ultimate hurdles shoe, the evoSPEED Naio NITRO.

There are also improved versions of the gold-medal-winning PUMA evoSPEED Nitro Elite and several new products for long-distance runners. The evoSPEED Distance Nitro Elite+ 2 spike uses PUMA’s proprietary NITRO foam and a PWRPLATE for exceptional energy return and is aimed at events ranging from 800m to 10,000m.

PUMA’s road racing athletes can choose from the DEVIATE NITRO ELITE 2, which is even lighter than its predecessors and also features a new last, or the futuristic and aggressively designed FAST-R NITRO Elite, which uses NITRO Elite technology and a PWRPLATE to support an efficient run.

PUMA x World Athletics Championship
Herzogenaurach, Germany, August 3, 2022
SIX-TIME OLYMPIC MEDALLIST ANDRE DE GRASSE TALKS “ONLY SEE GREAT”

Having just won gold in the men’s 4x100 relay at the World Athletics Championship in Eugene, De Grasse speaks about his motivation to keep performing at the highest level in a video interview with sports company PUMA.

With the ‘Only See Great’ campaign, PUMA explores the career path of its brand ambassadors, as they talk about their own paths to greatness, listening to their hearts, and finding a vision that no one else can see.

In the interview, Andre talks about his extraordinary performances, his very first successes and how he prepared for the moments leading up to it.

“Every year is a learning curve, a learning step. And I feel like I want to just keep climbing the ladder, I told myself going into the Olympics that I wanted to win three gold medals. I came up a little bit short”, De Grasse laughs. “I got one. And now it’s like, okay, now I need to focus on what are the things that I can do to continue to get better.”

Andre’s biggest drive is to be the best version of himself and to continue to carry on his legacy of being one of the best track and field athletes in the world.

First a hamstring injury stopped De Grasse, then COVID. How did he manage to stay motivated? “I think I get a lot of support from my family, my friends, they continue to push me every single day to be the best athlete of myself. Obviously, I have self-motivation as well that I want to be the best”, Andre says. “And that’s what keeps me, keeps me up at night, keeps me motivated and keeps me ready to take on the day.”

The idea for PUMA’s “Only See Great” campaign was inspired by cultural icon, entrepreneur and philanthropist Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter who first said: “I only see great. I don’t see good. I don’t see compromise. We should always strive to make something great, something that will last."

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