US runner hits out at longtime sponsor amid dispute over being dropped after announcing her pregnancy
Star marathon runner Emma Bates has alleged that her commercial sponsor dropped her after she informed them that she's pregnant.
Bates, 33, has had an endorsement deal with UCan, which produces energy gels, bars and powders for endurance athletes, for three years.
However, the American endurance runner claimed that she lost that partnership after revealing her pregnancy to the company.
'Since my fueling company dropped me after telling them I was pregnant, I have been trying a bunch of new gels,' Bates said in a social media video on Tuesday.
Bates announced that she and her partner, fellow runner Steve Finley, were expecting on March 5, around three months after she competed in the Valencia Marathon. She completed the race in 2:25:51 while in the early stages of her pregnancy.
UCan, however, has disputed Bates's version of events, offering a different timeline of the breakdown of their partnership.
Emma Bates alleged that her sponsor dropped her after she informed them that she's pregnant
The company claimed that the decision to end its partnership with Bates, who finished second in the 2021 Chicago Marathon, was made in September 2025.
UCan said that it had offered a new restructured proposal to Bates, but she allegedly rejected it.
'We're proud of the three-year partnership we had with Emma and the many accomplishments we shared together,' a UCan statement read. 'The partnership decisions were made in September 2025 as a part of regular business planning and prior to any knowledge of her pregnancy.
'We made an effort to continue working with Emma under a new agreement, but Emma ultimately chose not to move forward with that option. We've always supported and will continue to support athletes at all stages of life, including pregnancy and motherhood. Emma is an incredible athlete and we sincerely wish her the very best.'
Matt Sonnenfeldt, Bates's representative from Flynn Sports Management, rejected UCan's version of events, claiming that it was not accurate.
'We were in discussions after September,' Sonnenfeldt told Front Office Sports. 'They made an offer in December and then changed it.'
Bates is one of the United States' best long-distance runners in recent years. In addition to her second-place finish in the Chicago Marathon in 2021, she came eighth in Boston last year. Her 2:23:18 marathon also ranks No. 14 in US history.
She also has a partnership with Asics, who previously came under fire for its treatment of its female athletes during their pregnancies, while Nike also faced backlash back in 2019.
Bates announced that she and her partner, Steve Finley, were expecting on March 5
The 33-year-old is one of the United States' best long-distance runners in recent years
Track runner Alysia Montaño catapulted onto the global stage when she ran in the 2014 US Track and Field Championships while eight months pregnant with her daughter, Linnea. Three years later she competed while five months pregnant with her son, Aster.
She called out Nike, who sponsored her at the time, after the sportswear giant said it wouldn't continue paying her if she took time out to have a baby.
She split from Nike over the issue and while new sponsors Asics were more supportive, they still cut her pay when her performance dipped during pregnancy.
Asics confirmed to Front Office Sports that its partnership with Bates still stands following her pregnancy announcement.
'Emma's contract remains unchanged as Asics honors the contracts of sponsored athletes through pregnancy and return to competition,' a spokesperson told the outlet.
Olympian Allyson Felix also claimed in 2019 that Nike wanted to cut her pay by 70 percent after she became a mother.
'I decided to start a family in 2018 knowing that pregnancy can be "the kiss of death" in my industry, as the runner Phoebe Wright put it in The Times last week,' Felix wrote in her op-ed in the New York Times.
The athlete said it was a 'terrifying time' for her because she was negotiating a renewal of her contract with Nike after it ended in December 2017.
Alysia Montaño ran the 2014 US Track and Field Championships while eight months pregnant
Montaño claimed Nike said it wouldn't continue paying her if she took time out to have a baby
Felix, who welcomed her daughter Camryn in November 2018, explained that she felt pressure to return to training as soon as possible, despite undergoing an emergency C-section at 32 weeks because she was suffering from life-threatening pre-eclampsia.
'Despite all my victories, Nike wanted to pay me 70 percent less than before. If that’s what they think I’m worth now, I accept that,' she said. 'What I’m not willing to accept is the enduring status quo around maternity.
'I asked Nike to contractually guarantee that I wouldn’t be punished if I didn’t perform at my best in the months surrounding childbirth.
'I wanted to set a new standard. If I, one of Nike’s most widely marketed athletes, couldn’t secure these protections, who could?'
After Montaño and Felix, along with Kara Goucher, all went public with their claims that Nike had slashed their pay or attempted to renegotiate their contracts while they were pregnant, many shoe companies changed their policies.
