The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2026
UCan's split with pregnant marathoner Emma Bates became a public dispute
Bates said her sponsor UCan dropped her after her pregnancy announcement; UCan says the decision predated it. Either way, the brand took the reputational hit.
UCan · Emma Bates · 2026-03
What happened
Emma Bates, a 33-year-old American marathoner with a 2:23:18 personal best, announced her pregnancy on 5 March 2026. On 24 March she posted on Instagram that her sponsor — energy-gel maker UCan — had dropped her after she told them she was pregnant.
UCan pushed back with an official statement: the decision was made in September 2025 as part of regular business planning, before it knew of the pregnancy, and it had offered Bates a new agreement that she declined. Her agent disputed the timeline, saying talks continued past September and an offer made in December was later changed. Fellow sponsor Asics confirmed Bates's contract was unchanged and contains pregnancy protection — UCan's did not.
There was no lawsuit; the dispute played out in the press. For UCan, a niche sports-nutrition brand, the argument was the cost: it faced a discrimination narrative in a sport still shaped by Nike's 2019 treatment of Allyson Felix, with no written protection in its own contract to point to.
Why it happened
- Sponsorship contracts without pregnancy-protection clauses turn a routine business decision into a reputational landmine the moment the athlete is pregnant.
- A timeline dispute — 'we decided in September' versus 'you dropped me after I told you' — is impossible for either side to prove, so the public narrative decides.
The lesson
In athlete endorsements, the clause a brand refuses to write is the one it will be judged on. Pregnancy protection costs nothing to include and everything to lack once the story goes public.
Aftermath
Bates kept racing through early pregnancy, running 2:25:51 at Valencia, and continued testing new gels in public posts. UCan stood by its statement. Asics' confirmation that it keeps contracts intact through pregnancy became the industry comparison point.
Sources
- Marathon Handbook: Emma Bates Says Sponsor UCAN Dropped Her After She Got Pregnant; UCAN Says That's Not What Happened
- Times of India: Who is Emma Bates? US marathon runner pregnancy revelation triggers UCAN dispute
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