✳️The Story behind the GTWS & WBD Partnership
On the background to the Golden Trail World Series and Warner Bros. Discovery partnership
Hey pals,
On Tuesday I had the pleasure to chat to Scott Mellin, Global Chief Brand Officer for Salomon, in Paris about Salomon’s plans for trail running and also attended the launch event for the new partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery. Followers of Trailmix on Instagram already know this because I broke the news there 15 hours before the press release and made a cringey video on the implications of this for trail running (if you don’t follow me on there you really should…).
The trip, the access and the reporting is all made possible by my paid subscribers. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to get this scoop and trail running would be left with just the details in the press release for any clues as to how or why this news has come about. If you want more writing like this in trail running, consider upgrading your subscription to a paid one.
Pitch over. As always there’s a lot of context to the news, so today we dive into the details.
Hope you have a great weekend,
Matt
On Tuesday evening under the mirrored dome of the new Salomon store on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Salomon ushered in a new era for the Golden Trail World Series (GTWS). Salomon announced a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for the global production, distribution and marketing of the GTWS.
The deal was a long time coming, but only finalised last Friday night. Back in 2023 Salomon was looking for a partner to help distribute the series on TV as part of a two phase plan. Through the work of Marion Blanche, Global Marketing Director at Salomon, and her team they were able to secure a deal with Eurosport that granted the broadcaster rights to distribute the livestream across it’s linear and digital platforms.
Over the past two seasons the series has been broadcast on Eurosport across their 50+ markets with some races receiving 6 million views. In my Interview with Greg Vollet, former director of Golden World Trail Series at Salomon, he espoused that Eurosport was thrilled with the series after the first season and they wanted to expand their partnership, yet were already making demands to shorten the races to 2 hours each. The infamous flower race format (a course designed around a central point with multiple loops representing the shape of a flower head) was a product of the partnership between Eurosport and Salomon to create a course built for TV.
Phase two of Salomon’s plans for GTWS was to globalise the series, which Salomon announced at the end of last year bringing Japan and China into the World Series and cutting the national series’ to focus their efforts on fewer races. With a global footprint, they needed global distribution. This new deal with Eurosport’s owner, WBD, expands their coverage to the 100+ markets across the globe that WBD reaches through it’s own platforms (Eurosport (Europe), TNT Sport (UK & Ireland), Max (global) and Discovery Plus) and it’s many broadcasting partnerships.
The partnership is more than distribution, Patrick Maitrot, Head of International Sales & Partnership at WBD Sports Europe, stated at the launch event that there is ‘360 support’ from WBD in help develop the trail running race product and format to make it more exciting for TV viewers.
“What we put behind this program is more than just a broadcaster. We’re obviously going to try improve the product for TV viewers…but we’re also going to work on the communications side. We’re also going to work on the social media side. We’re going to work as a sales organisation to develop the partners. We’re also going to try to find some new venues to develop this product in the future. So it’s really 360 degrees support that we bring to the table.”
This partnership also ties into a potential third phase to Salomon’s plans for trail running - to get the sport into the 2032 Olympics. Scott Mellin, Global Chief Brand Officer for Salomon, explained to me in an exclusive interview that Salomon are approaching this in a three pronged attack. The first is Salomon’s relationship with the IOC through their premium partnership status at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games in 2026. The second is this partnership with WBD who hold broadcast rights to the Olympic Games between 2026 and 2032. And the third is the development of the racing format with WBD to make the sport Olympic’s appropriate.
Salomon have a year to pull this plan off after the IOC announced last month that the sports that will be selected for the 2032 Brisbane Games will be chosen next year. There is an option for Brisbane to choose an additional sport outside of this timeline, giving Salomon a bit more time to make their case.
So we have a global broadcasting deal and a plan for bringing the sport to the Olympics - news of this magnitude doesn’t come along in trail running that often. However WBD already has a history of ‘360 support’ with cycling which adds a sour note to otherwise optimistic news.
Back in 2022 UCI, cycling's governing body, formed a 7 year partnership with WBD to broadcast, produce and commercialise the Mountain Biking World Cup. This has resulted in a unification of the various mountain biking disciplines under one cohesive platform alongside various changes to the format of the races. Outside of these larger changes, more subtle shifts in the production and experience has caused fans to react to the commercial polishing of the event. For instance previously the races were produced by Red Bull whose productions had a cult following, praised for their high energy, rider focus, and creative storytelling. The transition to WBD was perceived by some as more corporate, less intimate with the sport’s core audience, and more focused on monetisation than community building. WBD also have limited the rich ecosystem of independent MTB content creators’ access to the events stifling the ecosystem that grew the sport in the first place. And most recently and controversially WBD reduced the winners podium from 5 to 3 spots, a tradition in mountain biking since the 1990s, that has seen 120 riders sign a petition against the change.
With many trail runners also fans of mountain biking, the news of WBD taking a more prominent stance in the future of trail running will not be openly embraced. However we have to take a wait-and-see approach to this deal and trust that with Salomon as a partner, they will not want to risk ruining their reputation in trail running for the consequences for them are credibility and sales.
One aspect that was not confirmed was the future of GTWS YouTube livestream. According to their YouTube, the Kobe race yesterday was not live-streamed in the UK (if others could check for me in other markets that would be grand). Ultimately this then means that to watch GTWS races, people in the UK will have to pay £30 a month to access TNT Sports, WBD’s UK broadcaster. The actual roll-out plan has not been confirmed but outside of the UK, Europeans should be able to watch GTWS through Eurosport and US citizens might be able to watch through Max. What this news therefore ushers in not just a new era for livestreaming trail running, but paying for the privilege to watch it too.
Towards the end of last year i questioned whether GTWS was working for Salomon after they made major changes to their team, branding and event selection. Now it appears that they were just getting started.
Despite the valid concerns about commercialisation, this partnership represents a truly monumental moment for trail running. For the first time, the sport will receive global distribution on major broadcasting platforms, bringing trail running's stunning landscapes, incredible athletes, and heart-stopping competition to millions of new viewers. This level of exposure is unprecedented and could catalyze tremendous growth for a sport that has historically thrived in the shadows of mainstream athletics.
The potential Olympic inclusion by 2032 would be transformative - elevating trail running to the world's biggest sporting stage and creating new heroes and role models for the next generation. It would legitimize what trail runners have long known: that this discipline represents one of the purest tests of human endurance, technical skill, and connection with nature.
While the transition may come with growing pains, Salomon's deep roots in the trail community and their vested interest in preserving the soul of the sport provide reason for optimism. This partnership with WBD doesn't just mark a new chapter for the Golden Trail World Series, it signals trail running's emergence as a global sport ready the world stage, potentially creating new opportunities for athletes, race organisers, and the broader trail running community.
What we're witnessing is nothing short of trail running's coming-of-age moment on the global sporting stage.
Agreed. This is hugely significant.
And most people won't/needn't care, because running is fundamentally a participation not a spectator sport. (My continual one-liner, which explains much).
Re the Holy Grail, aka the Olympics, this will naturally be controversial, because everyone in the business will be ecstatic, while the 99% of runners who don't earn money doing it will be unsure. Case in point: I love watching the Olympics on TV, and the IOC is one of the most corrupt organizations ever.
The cost is going to hurt. People (me) go the pub to watch football on TNT because we're not paying for the package and I can't imagine a venue that would put trail running on over any match.