TYR has been rather quiet lately in terms of new elite swimming sponsorships, instead focusing largely on the triathlon market, but with the retirement of Ricky Berens after the World Championships, there’s a spot for a new swimmer on their roster.
Megan Romano at the 2013 Golden Goggles (courtesy of Melissa Lundie, melissalundie.com)
That swimmer is one Megan Romano, who has signed a marketing deal with TYR.
Romano has won two relay World Championships at both the 2013 long course event and the 2012 short course event, and additionally won an individual silver at the 2012 Short Course Worlds, plus another bronze on a relay. She’s also a two-time relay champion from the World University Games. The biggest records to her name are a trio of American Records: one in the 400 meter free relay, one in the individual 200 yard free, and one in the 800 yard free relay.
“I’m really looking forward to working with them and excited about the future,” Romano said of her new deal. “The people are great and help out with whatever is needed. They’re a great company and I’m honored that they were interested and am honored to be a part of that team. I’m excited to swim fast most of all.”
Her most spectacular swim, and biggest impact so far on the world-stage, was the final of the 400 free relay from Barcelona this year. At that meet, she ran down Australian star Alicia Coutts on the anchor leg to give the Americans their first World title in that relay in a decade.
Romano has made most of her mark as a relay swimmer throughout her career, and has developed into one of the country’s most feared relay-specialists, but this is not to say that she doesn’t have aspirations beyond relays. Consider that in 2012, she was 5th in the 100 free in the country, she just happened to do that swim a championship-late: at the U.S. Open rather than the Olympic Trials. What’s more, Romano is a swimmer who is still improving, and appears to be far from her sprint plateau at just shy of 23 years old (her birthday is on Sunday).
David Arluck, who is Romano’s strategic marketing and professional swim manager, said of the deal that “TYR is making great suits. There will be several athletes competing in Rio who endorse what they make. It’s nice to see multiple great brands producing high quality competitive swimwear.”
This is Romano’s second partnership with a major suit brand since finishing her college eligibility with an NCAA team championship in the spring of 2013. She had previously been a member of the Arena brand lineup.
I also am curious as to where she is currently training. It would be awesome to see her go to SwimMAC and focus exclusively on the 50/100 and maybe the 200 free. And last summer she was at NBAC for a brief stint. She needs to be in a sprinting environment, and while she has done great at Georgia I think she would do better training with a professional group. But she knows better than I!
Along with a couple others, I’m wondering if she is training at NBAC right now? Or Georgia? Or still trying out different programs?
No words to describe that picture.
A little correction. Her birthday is next Saturday.
Where does she train now? Still in Athens, Georgia?
bobo – it’s actually Sunday.
I corrected Thursday.
And I have also made an error. 😳
You’re right. February 2nd is on Sunday.
And her training place?
We are sending presents, right? 😛
Does anyone know what these suit deals are worth for a top-tier swimmer like Romano?
I believe Kate Ziegler’s starting salary was $500k, though I could be wrong. I’m sure it varies immensely from top stars like Phelps, Lochte, and Coughlin to ‘starting’ pros like Romano. Ziegler, despite her ultimate lack of professional success, had several world and American records to her name at that point.
…99.9% of swimwear agreements include NDAs.
B/c of the NDAs, and based on limited knowledge, this is a little more ballpark:
Olympic medalist or Top 6 World Ranked Swimmers (not superstars like Coughlin/Phelps/Lochte/Grevers/Adrian) receive a low base, anywhere from 20-100k per year depending on the swimmer. They make their money on bonuses. A 20k per year athlete can earn upwards of 200-400k per year if they break WRs and net a lot of hardware across 4-7 evetns & crack the top 6 World Rankings in all.
Something not discussed a lot is how much this rev means to an elite’s career. Swimwear brands have, undoubtably, funded the progression of our sport. The swimwear deal is the best way,… Read more »
thanks for the info Mel
NDAs make sense for both the athlete and the sponsor company as the amounts are modest. Basically money to train.