Tudor has expanded its presence in endurance sport by signing four of the most accomplished trail runners in the world. Courtney Dauwalter of the United States, Miao Yao of China, Rémi Bonnet of Switzerland, and Baptiste Chassagne of France now make up the brand’s trail running lineup, joining a list of athletes the Swiss watchmaker has tied to its “born to dare” identity.
The signings reflect a broader shift in how heritage watch brands choose their faces. Where once the wrist of a racing driver or a tennis player was the prized billboard, brands are now turning toward athletes whose work plays out on mountain trails. Trail and ultra running is among the fastest growing endurance sports in the world, and the four names Tudor has chosen sit at the top of it.
A roster built on heavy mileage
Courtney Dauwalter is one of the most dominant ultrarunners the sport has ever seen. She has won the Moab 240 Endurance Run outright, beating the entire field across 240 miles of Utah desert. She has won the Western States Endurance Run multiple times. In 2023, she pulled off something no other runner has done in a single season, taking Western States, the Hardrock 100, and the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, a 171-kilometer race in the Alps with more than 10,000 meters of climbing. Dauwalter is also known for racing in basketball shorts and for trusting her instincts over a fixed plan.
Miao Yao broke through internationally in 2018, when she won the UTMB-CCC and was crowned UTWT Annual Champion at the age of 21. She went on to win the UTMB-OCC in back-to-back years, in 2024 and 2025. Yao moves between road marathons and mountain ultras with rare ease, a flexibility that few in the sport can match. She has become one of the most visible figures in outdoor sport across Asia and a reference point for a younger generation of female athletes in China.
Rémi Bonnet is best known for going uphill faster than nearly anyone else alive. The Swiss runner has claimed several overall titles in the Golden Trail World Series and is a multiple-time world champion in the vertical kilometer, an event where racers climb 1,000 meters of altitude in a single push. His list of victories includes Zegama-Aizkorri, the Spanish mountain race regarded by many in the sport as the most prestigious one-day event on the calendar.
Baptiste Chassagne is the newest name on the roster, but his recent results are hard to argue with. The French runner finished second at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, then went on to win the Diagonale des Fous on Réunion Island in October 2025, a race known for steep volcanic terrain and punishing weather. Chassagne is recognized within the sport for a smooth running style and for staying patient when the field around him starts to fall apart.
A watch for after the finish line
Top endurance athletes generally do not race with a mechanical watch on the wrist. Tudor frames the partnership less as a performance pitch and more as a way of marking the achievement after the work is done. In its announcement, the brand described its watches as objects meant to celebrate the win, memorialize the finish, and commemorate the achievement.
For Marathon Handbook readers, the more interesting story may be what the deal says about how the wider world now sees trail running. Endurance running used to live on the margin of mainstream sport. Major heritage brands now compete to attach themselves to it. The four athletes Tudor has chosen are widely regarded as among the very best in the world, and the deal puts that recognition front and centre.
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