Bellingham's Jake Riley signs with On Running...

PORTLAND--Bellingham native and Sehome HS grad Jake Riley (above/photo courtesy On Running) now has a sponsor.

The 2020NE US Olympian in the marathon signed a sponsorship agreement with Swiss brand On Running, whose US headquarters are in Portland.

“We are thrilled to partner with Riley as he sets off to represent On and the United States in the 2020
Tokyo Olympics next year,” says On Co-Founder and former World Duathlon Champion Olivier Bernhard.

“Not only has he proven himself an outstanding athlete, he embodies the resilience and drive to succeed that powers performance running here at On.”

The eight-time NCAA All-American at Stanford and surprise runner-up in the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon battled a three-year injury absence and doubts of returning to the sport before finishing as the top American in the 2019 Chicago Marathon (2:10:36).

Setting the stage for his Olympic debut, Riley edged past five-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman in the final yards of the Atlanta course to secure his second place finish behind defending champion and 2016 Olympic marathon bronze medalist Galen Rupp with a personal best of 2:10:02.

After Riley's finish at the Chicago Marathon, he and his team were approached by prospective sponsors, but decided to hold off until after the Olympic Trials. He wore Nike's controversial Alphafly Next% racing shoe, which was given to every Trials competitor.

Riley now resides in Boulder, Colorado where he trains under Australian Olympian Lee Troop and works towards his Masters of Biomechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado.

"I'm so happy to be joining the On team,” says Riley, who will make his debut as an On sponsored athlete on July 4th, where he'll run against 2016 marathon Olympian Jared Ward in a virtual 5000m race that will be streamed on T.E.A.M Boulder's Instagram page (@teamboulder) at 10 am eastern time/7 am pacific.

In case you missed it, here's an interview we did with Jake Riley in April, shortly after he made the Olympic team.



NOTE: On Running contributed to this report.

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