Casper Stornes has a new sponsor: the reigning IRONMAN world champion has announced his signing for Salomon. “I am very happy to start this new chapter,” the Norwegian wrote on social media last night, along with two sentences that sum up his moment: “Last year was a turning point. This year we're going to go even faster.”
The agreement comes in a period of rapid change. In Nice, where he won the title in 7:51:39, Stornes competed without a shoe deal, wearing ASICS shoes without a contract. In 2024 he had been with HOKA. Two different brands in two seasons, crowned with the highest long-distance title.
As happened weeks later with her compatriot Solveig Løvseth, also IRONMAN World Champion in the women's category, the sponsor vacuum in Nice did not go unnoticed: a few days after the victory, her name appeared in negotiations with several brands interested in sponsoring her, an athlete who until then had operated without the media focus of her compatriots.
Before Nice, Stornes trained alongside Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt, the two most dominant long-distance triathletes of the last decade, without the great title that his teammates did have.
Beyond his already distant first World Series victory, in that famous treble in Bermuda that presented the Norwegians to the world, Casper built a solid career, but always in the background. "I'm a person who likes to go unnoticed," he acknowledged at the press conference after his triumph in Nice.
From the shadow of the Norwegian group to the sponsor market
The victory shifted that balance. His media exposure skyrocketed, his followers grew and commercial offers multiplied in hours: a few days later he signed for Zone3, after years of wearing Sailfish.
According to his environment, his income increased several hundred percent compared to before Nice, an increase directly proportional to the impact of winning the world championship in a sport where sponsorship depends almost entirely on results.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Casper Stornes (@casperstornes)
The price of that success was immediate. The first few weeks after the championship, Stornes was barely able to train or rest - meetings, media engagements and business negotiations took up the time he would normally spend recovering. “The two and a half weeks after Nice, I didn't give a damn,” he explained.
Salomon arrives in that context of stabilization. The French brand expands its presence in long-distance triathlon by betting on an active world champion, with projection and with a profile compatible with its performance positioning in mixed terrain.
For Stornes, the agreement closes a period of uncertainty in footwear, a critical element for any triathlete competing in events of more than seven hours.
Same corridor, different context
Stornes insists that change is external. “Casper is still the same,” he says. He maintains the same training structure and the same environment that led him to the title in Nice.
2026 starts from a different position than any previous year. Stornes is the reigning world champion and the clearest reference of the long distance, not the third name of the Norwegian trio. If 2025 was the year of the breakthrough, this is the year to consolidate. He summed it up by closing the ad: “Now it's time to run.”