When the most decorated 100-metre sprinter ever stepped to the line for a final time, she told herself what she knew: that she was prepared, powerful and this race was hers—for her. The next handful of seconds were to honour everything that had brought her to this moment.Green, yellow and black hair whipping behind her—a self-proclaimed "daughter of the soil", who chose to wear the colours of her nation's flag for her final finish—gold-hued&nbsp;nails splayed in front of her, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-celebrates-shelly-ann-fraser-pryce" target="_blank">Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce</a> exploded off the blocks in the World Athletics Championship final in a capacity-filled Japan National Stadium in Tokyo. She ended her 100-metre career in the same way she began racing 18 years ago in Japan—with fierce speed, strength and composure. It was a bold tribute to Jamaica, the nation whose unyielding support has carried her through two decades at the top of the sport.In her decades of dominance—from becoming the first Caribbean woman to win Olympic gold in the 100 metres in 2008, to returning as World Champion in 2019 after giving birth to her son, Zyon—Shelly-Ann has embodied the power of duality.&nbsp;The ability to have longevity in athletics's shortest, most intense discipline; exuding femininity and self-expression in a physically demanding sport; proving motherhood and greatness can coexist.What athletes everywhere, and especially young girls, can take from Shelly-Ann's lead: the courage to run your own race, on your terms. To trust that setbacks don't define you, only your response to them. And the assurance that, if you believe in yourself and work with discipline, harmony is possible. Dreams and family, career and legacy.For that and for the now 276 incredible races and finishing line moments, thank you, Shelly-Ann.Below, go behind the scenes of the GOAT's final meet days in Tokyo.

The shoes. The hair. The finish. At the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Shelly-Ann, a five-time world champion, ended her career her way.

Sofieke van Bilsen is a 29-year-old Dutch photographer with a passion for storytelling through imagery. She is the in-house photographer for the German women's national football team, and was team photographer for the German Olympic Team in Paris 2024. She works closely with Nike athletes such as Faith Kipyegon, Eliud Kipchoge and Sifan Hassan.In her photography, she aims to create compelling visual narratives, focusing on the deep connection between emotion and athleticism. She strives to capture the raw moments behind the scenes, the untold stories of the journey and everything in between, bringing the spirit of sport to life.Sofieke's personality creates instant connections with people, and she is loved by the athletes she works with. Her relaxed and enthusiastic personality complements an incredible skill level and the ability to work in high-pressure environments for athletes.

Sofieke van Bilsen

Photo essay

Icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Ran Her Final 100 Metre On Her Terms

Over the course of his career, LeBron James has shared his passion for the game globally, partnering with Nike to travel throughout Greater China during his offseason, galvanizing a nation in its love for basketball and hoops culture. Just as LeBron's career has evolved through different eras, his tours have represented different values over the many times he's visited since 2005. Below are some of his most memorable moments in the country.

2005–2009

LeBron began his debut tour in Beijing in August of 2005. He was invited to watch the awards ceremony of the Nike Battlegrounds tournament, but he'd depart as more than just a spectator. From the moment he stepped down in China, he believed his tour could become a cross-cultural exchange rooted in a shared love of hoops and a mission to inspire the next generation of young players in China. "Basketball is not only a sport, it's also a bridge that connects people", he said.&nbsp;"This is a great learning experience for everyone. I hope I can continue to help grow the game globally and inspire the youth in China to reach their dreams".

LeBron's legacy in China is woven into special China-specific iterations of his signature footwear. In 2007, LeBron James appeared alongside NIKE, Inc.'s then-President & CEO Mark Parker to debut his Nike Zoom LeBron V "China" colourway.

LeBron returned to Beijing in 2009 after his MVP season, where he enjoyed a hero's welcome. As part of his trip, he donated equipment and provided scholarships for the Zhenhua School, a school for the children of migrant workers in suburban Beijing.

To celebrate his season, LeBron was presented with an exclusive pair of the Nike Air Max LeBron VII, featuring a Shenyang-inspired design dubbed "Loyalty" created by the local artist Ray Lei, and a Shanghai-inspired design dubbed "Family", created by the local artist Sic.

2011–2015

LeBron embraced his role as a global ambassador for the game, focusing on the opportunity to inspire China's young players. In 2011, his tour expanded to eight days over four cities, promoting grassroots basketball through a series of skill clinics and tournaments.

In 2012, with a fresh gold medal to pair with his championship ring, LeBron James made a triumphant arrival in Beijing to kick off a four-day tour as part of the&nbsp;Find Your Greatness campaign. "Greatness is defined by how much you want to put into what you do", said LeBron. "Greatness comes with victory. It also comes with being able to come back from adversity".

In 2013, LeBron returned to China with plenty to celebrate: his second straight NBA championship and MVP awards for both the regular season and the Finals.

In 2014, LeBron James was the first mentor to announce the roster for the Nike RISE, designed to help players raise their competitive game and improve their skill.

In 2015, Nike RISE 2015 evolved with LED Courts and motion-tracking drills to create a pinnacle training experience, teach the fundamentals of basketball and push the boundaries of sports training.

An emotional finale saw four players chosen to represent China at the World Streetball Championships.

2016–2019

After winning another NBA title in 2016, LeBron entered Guangzhou to a massive championship parade, the streets flanked by tens of thousands of fans, many of them in Cavs #23 jerseys. It was a signal for just how widely James's legacy had expanded throughout Asia.&nbsp;His More Than an Athlete campaign inspired young players to see basketball as one of many tools for affecting social change.

After a warm welcome from thousands of fans, he spent most of his time in Beijing working out with and coaching members of the Chinese Junior National basketball team.

Visiting primary schools throughout Beijing, LeBron shared his personal basketball experiences with young athletes, emphasising the role that hard work, dedication and self-belief played in his path to success.

In 2018, the first day of his "More Than an Athlete" tour in Shanghai began with a panel discussion with students at the Shanghai Theatre&nbsp;Academy, and ended with a park shootaround. Hundreds of fans gathered outside the court to watch him play, hoping to catch a glimpse of the icon.

This month, LeBron flew to China for his "Forever King Tour", his 15th in the country and marking the 20th anniversary of tours in Asia. There, he joined some of the world's most passionate hoopers and basketball fans, reiterating his commitment to giving back to the game across the world.

Over the course of his career, LeBron James has shared his passion for the game globally, partnering with Nike to travel throughout Greater China during his offseason, galvanizing a nation in its love for basketball and hoops culture.

Journey of an icon: 20 years of LeBron James in China

Hours of powering up steep ascents and navigating gnarly descents. Whipping mountain winds, glaring direct sun and biting evening temps. Getting mentally right with the fact that the next aid station is far, far away. Ultra trail running can sound like a gruelling, relentless sport reserved for the wildest, most hardcore athletes among us.According to our <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-acg-all-conditions-racing-department" target="_blank">All Conditions Racing Department</a> runners—six of whom just conquered pinnacle UTMB races across the French, Italian and Swiss Alps, on trails spanning 15 to 174 kilometres, with elevation gains of 1,200 to nearly 10,000 metres—the grit, determination, joy and freedom trail running gives you are worth every ounce of work. See for yourself.

<h3>ROSS GOLLAN</h3>Race: Experience Trail Courmayeur (ETC); 15K with 1,200m elevation gain Global finish rank: 29th

<h3>MARIE NIVET</h3>Race: ETC; 15K with 1,200m elevation gain Global women's finish rank: 7th

CESARE MAESTRIRace: ETC; 15K with 1,200m elevation gain Global finish rank: 2nd

<h3>BAPTISTE COATANTIEC</h3>Race: Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB); 174K with nearly 10,000m elevation gain Global finish rank: 11th

<h3>ANTHONY COSTALES</h3>Race: Courmayeur—Champex—Chamonix (CCC); 101K with more than 6,050m elevation gain Global finish rank: 15th

<h3>DREW HOLMEN</h3>Race: CCC; 101K with more than 6,050m elevation gain Global finish rank: 3rd

Powering up steep ascents. Navigating gnarly descents. Whipping mountain winds. Ultra trail running is a relentless sport. But the payoff is well worth the grind.

Ultra trail running can take everything you've got—and give you even more

About Nike—stories from inside NIKE, Inc.

Words: <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="/company/people/rachel-cavanaugh-contributing-writer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Rachel Cavanaugh</a> Images: <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="/company/people/dan-vernon-contributing-photographer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Dan Vernon</a> and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="/company/people/sofieke-van-bilsen-contributing-photographer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Sofieke van Bilsen</a>

The boldest ideas don't begin with guarantees. They begin with a dream—and an audacious commitment to make it real. That's exactly how Nike FlyWeb, the company's newest performance material, came to life. The first-of-its-kind 3D-printing innovation was born through years of experimentation and a resolve to do what had never been done before.&nbsp;Nike FlyWeb represents a radical shift in how performance apparel is made and what it can feel like.Unlike traditional athletic apparel, which is typically knit or woven from yarn, FlyWeb is made from TPU—a soft, pliable polymer—and 3D-printed to form the desired product.&nbsp;Three-dimensional printing is nothing new for the footwear industry or Nike. "This is, however, the first time Nike has applied the manufacturing method to high-performance sports apparel for an athlete", says Janett Nichol, Nike VP of innovation.&nbsp;

"What works on a shoe doesn't just translate to something you wear on your body", she explains. "It took years of re-engineering—not just the materials but the design approach itself—to make FlyWeb feel soft, breathable and beautiful enough for apparel".The first product Nike design teams chose to tackle in the new material? One that hasn't changed in material form since its inception: the bra.The Nike FlyWeb Bra is an ode to minimalism. The FlyWeb material is one single, seamless layer, built through computational design so that Nike designers could control the fit and support down to the millimetre, adjusting density, airflow and stretch across different zones of the garment."We had to re-engineer everything—dismantling what we knew, then putting it back together—to make it wearable next to skin", says Nichol.

The result is something athletes have never felt before. The Nike FlyWeb Bra doesn't just reduce bulk or manage moisture more efficiently. It creates an entire sensory shift. For women athletes, it eliminates the multi-layer barrier found in most sports bras, unlocking airflow and comfort in ways traditional construction simply can't."It's soft. It's light—so light, it feels like you're not wearing anything at all", adds Nichol. "That's the number 1 thing testers tell us: it disappears on your body, yet somehow delivers incredible support".That support doesn't come from compression or layering but rather from the structure itself: the computationally designed pattern is specifically engineered to be denser in areas that need more containment.

Nike FlyWeb fluidly engages when the athlete moves, creating responsive athletic support without relying on seams, straps or extra material. That means pure freedom of movement."You can actually feel the air on your chest", says Nichol. "Most women have never experienced that while running. We don't even think about it because it's just not something we've ever expected to feel".On 26 June, in Paris, Faith Kipyegon will attempt to become the first woman in history to break the 4-minute mile, an effort that's been dubbed "Breaking4". And as she takes to the track for the legacy-defining attempt, she'll be wearing a one-of-a-kind sports bra made from the breakthrough material.

Nike FlyWeb material will debut during Faith Kipyegon's historic attempt to break the 4-minute mile.

Because of its light, breathable design, Faith's Nike FlyWeb Bra will help her body stay cooler during her all-out sprint.

Faith's FlyWeb Bra has a gossamer-soft hand feel and weight that's barely there.

It was her ambition—and the scale of that goal—that helped push Nike FlyWeb from bra prototype to bespoke product."Everyone was a thought partner; we really put our heads together", says Lisa Gibson, senior product manager, apparel innovation. "And when you have a team working in synergy, believing in Faith and this moment, that's when things start to magically unlock. It's that Nike magic".

FlyWeb's debut isn't only a material milestone. It's the start of a new era in how performance apparel is made.What began as a moonshot of its own—an experiment to reimagine how we think about apparel—quickly accelerated into a breakthrough once Kipyegon's goal came into view.&nbsp;"We knew that it was an opportunity for us to look at what we had in our arsenal and what we could really use to help her break this goal", says Nichol. "We realised a gift had been dropped in our laps and it was up to us to rise to the moment".Now&nbsp;that the material is here, its potential is beginning to unfold.&nbsp;"We're just scratching the surface", says Nichol. "This is a true unlock, not just for bras but for how we design and build high-performance apparel going forward. It opens the door to entirely new ideas for how athletes experience sport through what they wear".

Featherweight, soft and breathable, Nike FlyWeb—a first-of-its-kind 3D-printing innovation—is a sports material like no other.

Feature

Innovation

The future of performance apparel is here

What would the back of your athletic trading card say? That's what Nike's Baseline testing is for: a way for all athletes to understand their physical tools.What It DoesNike's Baseline testing, made up of five assessments, is as foundational as it sounds. The assessments are borrowed from the worlds of biomechanics, physiotherapy and exercise science, and can be completed in a matter of minutes: a 3D body scan, a foot scan, a barefoot pressure test, an ankle range of motion test and countermovement jumps. In many ways, Baseline is the most ubiquitous tool that the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL) offers. Every professional athlete who visits the NSRL has the option of doing the testing, no matter their itinerary. But that doesn't mean it's a resource that's exclusive to a precious few. Baseline is the one test series in the NSRL that's also open to every Nike employee.Considered together, the test results form the baseline of a person's athletic profile—how powerful they are, how mobile they are, how explosive they are and other traits. Knowing these attributes gives Nike researchers, scientists and designers a clearer picture of how to serve an athlete's needs.

Baseline helps provide foundational knowledge of an athlete's body, connecting anatomical structure, foot and lower-body mechanics and functional movement.

The three-dimensional foot scale measures foot shape during normal standing. The reported sizing can be a starting point for shoe or product fit.

Barefoot walking helps asses areas of high and low pressure underfoot. Seeing these areas of elevated pressure can help uncover an athlete's gait pattern.

Range of motion in the ankles and the toes, tested in different directions, can help determine joint function.

Performance jumps can be an indication of lower-body strength, power and asymmetry.

Data from Baseline testing goes beyond describing an athlete's current state. It can also shed light on an athlete's past, like what sport they played or what injuries they sustained.

What It Helps Us DoJackie Shea, Baseline operator, Innovation, says Nike researchers selected each of the&nbsp;Baseline tests to set an experiential, diagnostic tone for every athlete interaction within the NSRL. Before the opening of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/inside-the-nike-sports-research-lab-lebron-james-innovation-center" target="null">LeBron James Innovation Center</a> in October 2021, athlete engagement in the lab was largely reserved for testing footwear and apparel prototypes. There's nothing wrong with that, says Shea, a former D1 athlete who studied kinesiology and exercise science. But that process largely treats the athlete as a test pilot secondary to the vehicle—the product—they are steering. "We wanted Baseline to help bring athletes to the centre of the lab, distinct from product", she says.&nbsp;Through their Baseline results, athletes can see nuances in their athletic profile. Are you geared towards slower endurance or more explosive power? Your vertical jump results might point you towards an answer. Does your anatomy from the 3D body scan suggest you have any imbalances in your proportions? These results are valuable to athletes for their own sake. You don't need to test a product to gain a better awareness of your own body.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

After guiding more than 4,000 athletes through Baseline, Shea has learned to spot trends in physical profiles among different sports while offering remedies via other Nike tools. For example, runners tend to have weak posterior strength, so in their back, glutes and hamstrings. They stand the most to gain from consistent weight training, provided in the hundreds of workouts from the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nike.com/ntc-app" target="_blank">Nike Training Club App</a>. Athletes who play lateral sports, like basketball, tend to have limited mobility, so a Nike yoga class at a nearby store might be just what they need to balance out.Key to Shea's job is a fair amount of myth-busting when discussing test results. An athlete might comment on how running hurts their knees, but when they test their ankle mobility, the athlete grimaces, looking stiff as a board. They test their gait on <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/nike-nsrl-form" target="_blank">NSRL Form</a>—a recent addition to the test line-up—and are clearly overstriding. With each step, most of their force is displaced through their knees and their back instead of transferred evenly through their body. Running doesn't hurt their knees—the way they run hurts their knees. Baseline results help give athletes a course of action for what troubles them the most.&nbsp;

Baseline does play a role in ensuring that Nike researchers test products efficiently and orient them towards real solutions. For example, Baseline results are a common way for NSRL researchers to recruit for new studies. An athlete with strong results in explosive vertical jumping power is an ideal fit for a future basketball jumping study that tests a new hoops silhouette. A distance runner, on the other hand, might find a steady-state treadmill run in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/nike-sport-research-lab-environmental-chambers" target="_blank">climate chambers</a> a better match, which in turn can help scientists evaluate the latest sweat-wicking material innovations like <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-aero-fit-official-images" target="null">Aero-FIT</a>. As more and more athletes do Baseline, the lab's research specificity gets sharper and sharper. The same is true for product development.&nbsp;That process is ongoing. A Baseline evaluation is never the end of the story. It's the beginning of a conversation.&nbsp;"Baseline creates relationships with athletes that aren't passive, but active", says Shea. "The conversations between athletes and their test results are in a constant cycle with each other. One of my favourite parts in this job is getting to ask follow-up questions. You're showing some imbalance between your left-leg power and your right leg. Did you have some kind of injury to your leg early on? Tell me more. There's always more to every athlete's story".

What would the back of your athletic trading card say? That's what the NSRL's Baseline testing is for: a way for all athletes to understand their physical tools.

John Shiel photographs the truth of Innovation—unpolished, intimate and in progress. He explores the choreography of art, science and athletes, documenting an honest record of Nike Innovation's inner life, covering the rebels, dreamers and makers who are forging the future of sport.He leads the Creative Studio in Nike Innovation, tracking the next frontier of Innovation stories that have the power to inspire athletes everywhere.

John Shiel

Nike Sports Science

Next Level

The NSRL Baseline Testing

A single Nike Aero-FIT shirt begins as recycled yarn on a spool. Before it reaches an athlete on the world's biggest stage, it will move through a specialised creation process—knit on a proprietary circular machine; dyed in precise lots; and extracted, finished, sublimated, cut, printed and hand-stitched panel by panel.&nbsp;&nbsp;Each step exists to protect the performance built into the material itself, a highly texturised knit that combines open and closed mesh zones to move air across the body, lift the fabric off the skin and deliver more than twice the airflow of legacy Nike fabrics. That's not nothing during a summer of sport that's delivered some of the hottest conditions footballers have ever seen.&nbsp;Fitting, then, that <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-aero-fit-official-images" target="_blank">Aero-FIT</a> is also Nike's first elite performance apparel made from 100 percent textile waste. Nike's contract manufacturing suppliers use a textile-to-textile system enabled by advanced chemical recycling, creating a circular process that produces recycled polyester yarn as good as virgin material.&nbsp;That material comes together through a blend of technology and human expertise, yarn and machine, hand and eye, made for the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/collections/nike-football-unveils-2026-federation-kits-featuring-aero-fit-performance-cooling-technology" target="_blank">athletes taking the pitch</a> and the fans standing with them in the same colours.See exactly how here.

When you're playing for your country, nothing should distract you, least of all heat and sweat.

Nike Football

The Making of Aero-FIT: The Material Innovation Keeping Footballers Cooler on the Pitch

See What Drives Us

Stories from inside NIKE, Inc.

Story Landing

Short Stories

If Cade Cunningham seems comfortable with his back against the wall, trust, he's not resting. In the first Game 7 of Cunningham's career, Motor City watched with bated breath as its stoic leader—two years removed from a 28-game losing streak, six weeks removed from a collapsed lung—willed the Pistons to their first post-season series win in 18 years.&nbsp; Despite being only 24 years of age, this was classic Cade. Bruising bully ball accented by ballerina pirouettes. Quarterback composure when the fans beat the thundersticks and the stakes skyrocketed. The strength, steadiness and stats in that game—32 points and 12 assists, for those keeping track at home—have become expectations for fans, and have long been the calling card for Cunningham.&nbsp; That flair for the big moments was moulded by enduring the difficult ones.&nbsp; In his own words, Cunningham recalls the Arlington upbringing that prepared him for his trial-by-fire NBA ascent. From studying Penny Hardaway to befriending Barry Sanders, hear how adversity and mentorship have forged a focus that teammates trust and opponents fear.

I hate to lose. My dad being a competitor made me competitive. He and my mom being hard workers made me competitive. Watching my older brother and sister compete in sports made me want to compete and be good at what I did.&nbsp; I wanted to be like my brother. It started when I was 4 years old. I was watching my brother play, and I just fell in love with the game. In Dallas, there's competition everywhere. There's a lot of talent and a real sports culture. Being around high-level athletes and competition in the grassroots realm is important, learning what it's like to compete and seeing other kids who are good. Arlington doesn't get that type of credit, but that's how we feel. It's an "if you know, you know" thing for us. I try to clean up things from past off-seasons. I try to be more efficient in how I get my work done and how I work on my skills. I'm trying to be a complete player on both sides of the ball and make sure my mind is in the right space. It's a lot of one-on-one and one-on-none work. Playing five-on-five is the best way to replicate the real deal. I try to get as much of that as possible. I try to keep my body in the best shape possible.

Being confident in your body is a big part of being the player you want to be. I take that more seriously as I get older. It's a dog-eat-dog world. Every game there is high-level competition—especially at point guard. You've got to find ways to impose yourself. Growing up, I was a really good athlete, and I was bigger and stronger than other guys. Getting to the NBA was a big adjustment for me, finding my way against grown men. As I've gotten older, I continue to work at it, and I'm closer to where I want to be. Adversity builds character better than anything else. All the losses have made me the player I am and have allowed me to win the way I have lately. There's still a long way to go, but I definitely lean on the adversity. It's hard in the moment when you're losing, especially as much as we were losing. But understanding all the things I've been through? Those losses didn't make me feel like a loser. I still felt like a winner, somebody who bleeds winning. I had to find what it takes to win in the NBA, and over time, I started to. I'm not all the way there yet. The best coaches I've had coached me hard. Those are the guys that got me better the fastest. Being around people who are so knowledgeable about the game, I want them to use their knowledge to help me improve. People that aren't going to do that? They're not a great fit for me. I don't try to prove to guys that I'm the leader. I allow guys to naturally follow me by being the type of leader that I would want. You have to know who your teammates are as people. Knowing what pushes them, what motivates them and how they react, while meeting them where they are. It's about treating people the way they want to be treated, but also holding your frame.

You have to stay good at things that you're good at. I got to where I'm at by being a good athlete and a good passer. I'm never going to take that away from my game. But you've got to be able to tell yourself the ugly truth about yourself. I have to watch the film when I was terrible and learn from it. I have to talk to people who are great at what they do and dive into their minds. Those things help me. LeBron was my favourite player growing up. I looked up to him, the way he did things on the court and the way he carried himself off the court. KD was a big influence growing up too, and as I got older, I watched Penny a lot, his highlights and tape. That's somebody similar in size to me whose game I liked.&nbsp; When I was young, we said Barry Sanders was the greatest running back ever. He was the coldest one on Madden. Being from Oklahoma State, going to Detroit, and meeting him and hearing he's a fan of my game? It's crazy to me, having a legend like that in my corner rooting for me. I'm a big fan of what he was able to do.

I always played in Nike. I always wore it growing up. So to be on campus now, starting my signature line? It's a dream come true and a blessing. Going back to when I was a kid, the best athletes in every sport wore Nike. Even today, it has the aura of "this is what the best wear". It adds confidence to you.

I really want to make a great basketball shoe. It has to elevate my game and allow me to play at a higher level. And it's all about the star for me. My signature logo, the star, represents something so deep. I want to push light into the world, to inspire people and help communities less fortunate than me. I feel like we're all stars in that way, we're all capable of sharing light. And I want everybody to feel like a star when they wear my shoe. Sometimes I turn my phone off. My loved ones and family don't love it, but disconnecting from social media? I do that a lot. As much as I can, I get outside in the sun. I mix it up. I like going to a beach; I like playing golf or pickleball; I'll go on a hike or ride a bike; I'm down. If I'm in the sun? I'm good.

The Detroit Piston point guard has ascended from Nike EYBL MVP as a high schooler to All-NBA First Team in his fifth season. He says he's thankful for all the bumps and bruises along the way.

Nike Basketball

For the win

Cade Cunningham's Composure Is Years in the Making

On 29 August, 16 young players from cities around the world stepped onto a court in Shanghai for the Jordan Brand The One Finals. Each had fought their way through local qualifiers and semifinals, playing head-to-head past hundreds of young hoopers, to earn a spot among the final eight players in the men's and women's divisions.With no teammates, no substitutions and no collective identity to fall back on, the hoopers waged 1v1 battles to earn a singular title: The One. Watching courtside? The likes of Jayson Tatum, Paolo Banchero, Stephon Castle, Jared McCain, Guo Ailun, Li Tianrong, GEM, Jackson Wang, Asen and other members of the Jordan family, hollering for this next generation as they signalled their futures on the court, letting their game do the talking.Here, an inside look at what it took to become the champion.

With a tournament in Shanghai that went down to the wire, Jordan Brand's The One Finals crowned the new global champions of the court.

Jordan Brand

What Does It Take to Be the Best 1v1 Hooper in the World?

In July 2026, more than 10 hours into her race, ultra runner and ACG pro <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/trail-runner-yao-miao-is-running-down-new-goals-with-acg" target="_blank">Yao Miao</a> hit the final wall. Specifically, the eleventh and penultimate section of Camins d'Hèr, a 110-kilometre ultra race in Spain's Pyrenees mountain range, which passes through the small localities of Arties to Escunhau, a distance of about 5 kilometres. The stretch is a gruelling, exposed vertical climb that squeezes every last drop of mental fortitude out of a runner before they tackle the remaining 8 kilometres to the finish. Even the fittest athletes reliably bonk when they reach it.For Miao, the wall was simply one more obstacle to climb. She'd later cross the finishing line, fist raised in the air, completing the race in 13:04:34, the course's fastest-ever time in the women's field. Yao Miao is one of the most accomplished racers of her generation. She's one of only six runners worldwide to win two different UTMB finals events. But she also had a secret tool in her race prep: insights from the Nike Innovation Farm Team, an 18-strong ultra-runner cohort who trained in a four-month residency at the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/nike-sport-research-lab-environmental-chambers" target="_blank">Nike Sport Research Lab</a> (NSRL) in Beaverton, Oregon.

A Nike team of applied physiologists combined the data from Miao's springtime visit to the NSRL with a four-hour resilience run done by the Farm Team and crunched the numbers through a predictive model to map out the pace that would land her in a hypothetical finish window. They shared the formula with Miao in the weeks before Camins d'Hèr. The team estimated she'd finish between 12:37 and 13:44—and to put ink on a specific number, 13:09. She'd cross the arch in Vielha within five minutes of that prediction.Thanks in large part to the data from the Farm Team, there was less guesswork to the milestones Miao needed to hit. The group acted like a squad of teammates in her corner, bringing a sharper clarity to her plan.

And that was the whole point. The 15-week Nike Innovation Farm Team, which kicked off in April at Nike's Philip H. Knight Campus, was created to help Nike innovators uncover the levers behind ultra-endurance running.The science of endurance performance under two hours is fairly well understood. The longer a runner goes, however, the less we know about what causes some to succeed and others to crumble. The standard factors of endurance performance become more dynamic—and unpredictable—especially in ultra-distance mountain running. The distances are outrageous. The terrain shape-shifts in a flash, covering high-altitude climbs and steep descents. There's a mix of unforgiving surfaces, and the weather can change rapidly. What's more, a race can last for days, and it's largely a solo endeavour. You're likely to be running by yourself for extended periods of time, sometimes for hours. The opportunities for a scientist to intervene naturally and observe how the runner's body is negotiating the work are few.

What the Farm Team gave Nike researchers was a rare 15-week window to dig into all aspects of the sport and, maybe most importantly, its elusive performance enhancer: resilience."In a race, everyone slows down over 13 hours", says Brett Kirby, PhD, senior principal scientist of applied performance innovation in the Nike Sport Research Lab. "The winner is the one who slows down the least. In other words, the most resilient runner wins. We wanted to study resilience in three main ways: physiologically, biomechanically and psychologically".With the Farm Team, NSRL scientists wanted to create a realistic, uninterrupted environment to gather enough data to better understand this resilience. The bonus was that the outcomes of their studies should help all runners fine-tune their training. This could be picking the right programme (e.g. what could help you blast through an uphill sprint in hour eight of a race) or the right product to wear for a race course. This scientific foundation for new product solutions extends beyond the pros too, and can help any runner who hits the wall of the mountain and wants to break through.

Nike's vast backyard in the Pacific Northwest became the Farm Team's research centre. They were embedded in the NSRL and set free in the surrounding Portland area, including the sprawling Forest Park trails and the stunning routes in the Columbia River Gorge.&nbsp;"Time under effort is the variable that makes or breaks an ultra runner's race", says Brad Winn, lead researcher of applied innovation, who served as the programme's head coach over the 15-week protocol. "Time is also the critical piece on the research side. We wanted to spend as much of it with these athletes as possible".

The programme's name came from two places. One borrows from the farm team concept popular in sports like baseball, where a farm team serves as an important talent pipeline for a franchise. The other comes from one of Nike's foundational employees, Jeff Johnson. In the mid '90s, he and Stanford track coach Vin Lananna co-founded the esteemed sub-elite distance-running track team, in many ways a precursor to today's track clubs. Both inspirations draw from the same purpose: to explore how a dedicated pipeline can—through athlete talent and the exploration of their potential—improve a larger community.There were 18 spots—nine men and nine women—up for grabs in the Farm Team's squad, and runners applied online beginning in March 2026. Criteria for the programme was strict. Selected runners needed to complete all 15 weeks of training and have the ability to run for up to four hours at a sub-elite pace. Nike Innovation received thousands of applications and had the daunting task of selecting the handful who would be invited to relocate full-time to Beaverton.

The residency's embedded nature was undoubtedly a challenge. "Moving away for four months has been difficult, on top of working a full-time job", says Alec Hewett, a Farm Team runner who works as a senior manager of national teams at USA Triathlon and is in his first year of marriage. "But the sacrifices were still a no-brainer for me and my wife. Having full support from her and from my job has been awesome".The 18 runners were divided into two cohorts, each focusing on a different training protocol over 10 weeks. One was a concentric-dominant, more traditional uphill programme (concentric refers to the shortening of the muscle under force). The other was an eccentric-dominant programme, or one that focused on the lengthening of the muscle under force, translating into downhill workouts. In addition to run-specific workouts, both groups applied their concentric or eccentric focus to assigned strength training workouts. The eccentric groups, for example, would do lifts like descending lunges, paying close attention to the lowering of the weights, whereas the concentric group did a contrasting lift, like a weighted step-up.&nbsp;

The team was given a full array of Nike's diagnostic tools in the NSRL to help scientists better grasp what was happening under the bonnet of each runner. For example, every runner's gait was analysed through <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/nike-nsrl-form" target="_blank">Nike Form</a>, an algorithmic tool developed in-house by the NSRL to study a runner's unique biomechanics. Through this data, scientists could study the athletes' mechanics during long runs, how training impacted their mechanics over the course of the study, how their body interacted with footwear over time and how race simulations impacted fatigue. After 10 weeks of training, each baseline test was measured again, charting how runners progressed their fitness according to their programme.&nbsp;The Farm Team played an important role in testing some of the latest breakthroughs coming out of Nike Innovation, like the recently announced Picklejus, the new ACG model with a cushioning system optimised for big-mountain racing. The squad tested the shoes in the lab, trialling Picklejus during a challenging four-hour treadmill test with changes in both speed and gradient to simulate mountain-like terrain.The team's comments on the shoe and, specifically, their ability to describe in clear terms what they needed to feel from it, helped show what was working well. For example, many runners voiced a need for protective stability without sacrificing snappiness for uphill surges. The Farm Team also tested apparel prototypes that ACG pros like Miao wore for her Camins d'Hèr race.With a trove of scientific data over the 15-week residency (the Nike Form sessions alone gathered some 13 gigabytes of data per runner), the insights move in all directions. They travel down to the general product level and move up to ACG's squad of pros, who are wringing every possible advantage out of their pre-race training, race-day strategy and post-race recovery.&nbsp;Take Caleb Olson. In October 2025, the NSRL Applied Performance Innovation teammates met with the Western States 100 winner for a mini camp in the desert of St. George, Utah, talking about his typical training and how he's preparing for UTMB. That exchange cued unanswered questions in trail running, especially the power of downhill running. Olson asked how he could run downhills at full effort rather than conserving energy for the last descent. That question was an impetus for Nike Innovation Farm Team training: to build a training regime that could fortify Olson's body. Nike Innovation teammates created Nike products that would give him an edge—the same products tested at length by the Farm Team cohort.

"Lab data doesn't win races", says Kirby. "Conversations do. The data doesn't mean anything if we can't connect it to meaningful relationships with our athletes".The Farm Team programme wrapped in late July. Nike scientists now have their own mountain to climb in sorting through the data, and some intriguing results are bubbling up. One of them, says Kirby, is the improvement in physiological, biomechanical and psychological testing in the eccentric training group, which doesn't resemble a traditional, well established fitness programme. On the mega ramp outside the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/lebron-james-innovation-center-nike-sport-research-lab" target="_blank">LeBron James Innovation Center</a>, while the runners completed punishing repeats, some of them assigned to the downhill regimen barely felt like they were breaking a sweat. This gives credibility to a convention-bucking point in the world of training: eccentric tolerance is a training variable that must be worked into your plan.While the study's conclusions are ongoing, the takeaways are immediate. And that brings us back to Yao Miao, Camins d'Hèr and the wall.

The morning Miao began the race, she had a dedicated physiological cheat sheet at her fingertips, translated into pacing charts by the second over the technical course. It was like a menu at each stop describing which interventions to take, like whether to apply sun cream, what fuel to eat and why, as well as researched recommendations for what product to wear. This data-backed advice came from Farm Team insights.Miao hit the cooling station at the eleventh stage. The Nike Innovation team had prescribed options: an ice bandana, cold water to pour over her head, salt tablets. They also created a cue card for her technique to help her efficiently scale the ascent: "Head down, shortest stride, poles fully engaged". Included on that card was a concise summary of the plan to finish the race. It summed up in 27 words what Miao was feeling after more than 10 hours of peak physical exhaustion: "Final wall. 57 minutes. Heart rate will be 96% the whole time; that IS the plan. You will feel awful; everyone does. From the top, only 8km remain". Nobody knows exactly what will happen during the twists and turns of an ultra race. But thanks to residency programmes like the Farm Team, there's less mystery in knowing what makes an ultra runner tick.&nbsp;"The people who know athletes best are the ones who spend the most time with them—it's that simple", says Winn. "There's no better way to do that than bringing them here to our house, inviting them in and doing everything we can to support them".

See how athlete insights from the new residency programme help create better products for every ultra runner.

Trail running

How the Nike Innovation Farm Team Is Pushing the Science of Ultra Running

Look closely at the front of a Jack Purcell shoe and you'll notice a small detail that sets it apart. Unlike its big brother—the Chuck Taylor, defined by its signature white toe cap—the JP carries a stripe of colour, a thin rubber inlay set into the toe. Lean in, and its corners curl upwards, revealing something unexpected: a cheeky grin.It's a nod to the man who designed the shoe, Jack Purcell, a world-champion badminton player known to nearly everyone as "the Smiler".A shoe most people know without knowing they know it, the Jack Purcell is Converse's second-oldest icon, quieter than its more famous sibling, but no less enduring. Since 1933, it has moved through nearly a century of reinvention, from badminton courts to country clubs, Hollywood sets to grunge and skate culture, each generation finding its own meaning in the sneaker's unmistakable smile.Now, once again, the shoe that never quite fit into one box is getting a new look. The second silhouette in Converse's First String programme—following the Chuck Taylor in 2025—it pulls details from across its long history and filters it through a contemporary, soft-luxury lens, with premium materials and craftsmanship at the forefront.The fresh model has already made its way onto the feet of a new generation of tastemakers, including this spring's Italian Open champion, Jannik Sinner, who showed off a handmade, one-of-a-kind pair after his win, offering an early glimpse of where the 90-year-old sneaker is headed next.

<h3>The man behind the smile</h3>The story of the Jack Purcell didn't begin with the shoe. Before the grinning toe cap, there was a grinning man—a world-champion badminton player from Guelph, Ontario, known for his gregarious smile.In the days before nine-figure endorsement deals, top athletes still had to have side hustles to make a living—even the best athletes in the world. To help pay the bills, Purcell took a job in promotions at the sporting-goods company A.G. Spalding, where he was assigned a project examining the rubber used in the centre of golf balls. Through this, he came into contact with the B.F. Goodrich Company.&nbsp;

The tyre maker was producing canvas court shoes at the time and looking to expand its racket-sports business. In Purcell, Goodrich saw an opportunity to put the name of a world-champion badminton player behind one of its shoes and suggested a signature sneaker. But Purcell wanted more."He wasn't just like, 'Yeah, sure, slap my name on it'", explains Converse Archivist Sam Smallidge. "He was the best badminton player in the world, and he had very specific thoughts around designing the Jack Purcell shoe".

Ordinary rubber-soled sneakers weren't built for the game, he'd told people at the time. Too stiff, too flimsy, they couldn't handle a sport that demands quick footwork and confidence underfoot. Purcell wanted a shoe that was comfortable and flexible enough for competitive play, yet tough enough to survive it.The first Jack Purcell was built around its namesake's vision: a functional court shoe designed for competitive badminton. Performance wasn't the only thing that set the original Jack apart. On the front was the now-famous smile, a piece of Purcell's personality stitched onto the shoe that bore his name."Not many professional sporting shoes carry that level of identity from its original creator", says Matthew Sleep, Converse's global design director.

<h3>A sneaker with many lives</h3>The shoe found a following fast within badminton circles. A true piece of performance footwear, the low profile and reinforced toe kept it nimble yet sturdy on hard surfaces. But it didn't stop there. Soon, the Jack Purcell began appearing on tennis and squash courts, where the same features that made it effective for badminton proved useful across a range of athletic endeavours."If it's good for one playing-court surface, it's good for a variety of applications on racket courts", explains Smallidge.By the 1950s, B.F. Goodrich had expanded the line beyond the court, introducing versions for golf, boating and sailing. "It had really grown into this lifestyle brand", says Smallidge. "Whether it was boating, badminton or yachting, it became associated with these country club-like activities that appealed to a high-end consumer".

From there, the shoe's crossover into popular culture accelerated. In 1955, celebrity photographer Phil Stern photographed James Dean styled in the canvas sneakers on the set of Guys and Dolls. The iconic photos would eventually become part of Converse advertising decades later, further cementing the shoe's place in the visual language of mid-century cool.As it found its way into more corners of American life, the Jack Purcell became a staple of Hollywood and post-war casual style, worn by stars including Elvis Presley, George Harrison and Steve McQueen.The combination of style and practicality made it a natural choice for everyday wear too."If you were a parent sending your kid to school, you needed to put them in something that's mildly athletic but can also function to get them through the rest of the day", explains Smallidge. "Generally, canvas shoes would fit that bill".

<h3>A new chapter</h3>In 1972, Converse acquired the Jack Purcell line from B.F. Goodrich, ushering the shoe into a new era. Early advertising leaned into the sports-car aesthetic of the decade, giving the Jack Purcell a sleek, aspirational edge. By the time the decade came to a close, that edge had sharpened."As you move into the '80s, this New England nautical vibe came into the influence of the shoe", says Sleep. "Very clean, Ivy League, slightly preppy. It gave the Jack Purcell a slight pomp and circumstance, which elevated it above other shoes".

The sneaker's polished image carried all the way into the 1990s, at which point it found an unexpected audience among skateboarders and the counter-culture."Grunge music is one of the big reasons the Jack got skate pick-up", explains Sleep. Singers such as Kurt Cobain were photographed wearing the shoe, Sleep says, and it was bands like Nirvana that led to the broader cultural adoption of the product.

The juxtaposition of the preppy, elevated look with a punk and grunge aesthetic is exactly what made the shoe so primed for reinterpretation—what Sleep calls the "apex of counter-culture"."That's what these counter-cultures do. That's the biggest subversion", says Sleep. "'Let me take something that's not made for me and put it into a new context'. Now, it's not that guy in the chinos with one fold down the middle, buttoned down and tucked in. Now, it's paired with that ripped plaid flannel, leopard fur, crazy glasses. That's the root of what we call streetwear. Taking the thing that's not meant for that use and putting it deliberately into another perspective".

Skaters were drawn to the JP for its style but also because the same construction that makes it powerful on the badminton court also offers performance benefits on a skateboard."In badminton, you're always on your forefoot. You've got a double toe cap that reinforces the area", says Sleep. "The same thing applies to skate. Most of the wear from doing tricks happens across the bridge of your foot or up in the forefoot area".

<h3>Still smiling</h3>Ninety years on, the Jack Purcell is getting rebuilt from the ground up, not as a single throwback, but as a composite of everything it's been before.&nbsp;The premium First String edition is scheduled to drop globally on 3 September for $250, with an inline release to follow in 2027 at a classic $90 price point."It's about curating the best of all the eras", explains Sleep. "It's not one specific decade or one specific year". The new iteration brings that approach to the materials too, with premium leather sourced from Montebelluna, Italy, a longtime centre of luxury shoemaking. The materials and craftsmanship give the new silhouette a softer, more refined expression without losing the simplicity that has always defined it.

For Sleep, the appeal goes beyond just materials to the legacy of the shoe."How many products, not just shoes, express emotion, even when they exist in their simplest, plainest form? The Jack Purcell is the quintessential emotive sneaker".The emotion comes from everything that's accumulated around the sneaker over the years: the athletes who wore it, the celebrities who made it visible and the subcultures that gave it new meaning.&nbsp;"It's a shared history", says Sleep. "That's the beauty of these things. And that's why I continue to be here at Converse and want to work on this. What an amazing universal translator".

A shoe most people know without knowing they know it, the Jack Purcell is Converse's second-oldest icon. Now, the enduring silhouette is being reimagined again.

Converse

Skaters, Yachters, World-Class Athletes: The Sneaker That Unites Them All

Quenlin Blackwell has always understood that style is a form of storytelling. What began when she was a teenager in suburban Texas, soaring to fame posting viral videos on Vine from her bedroom, has since grown into a career spanning comedy, hosting, modelling, acting and design, each new chapter another expression of the same restless creativity.Today, she commands millions of followers across social platforms. Known for her instinctive ability to take something familiar, overlooked or unexpected and make it entirely her own, she's made transformation a part of her signature. The instinct is everywhere in her aesthetic, a philosophy built on reinvention over trend-chasing, on finding new life in what already exists.As someone less interested in following a formula than seeing what something can become, her new partnership with Nike feels like a natural next step. The collaboration will be built around the same fluency in fashion, performance and self-expression that has defined her career so far.Below, the Dallas native talks vintage sneakers, the eye behind her style and what it means to own your own story.

Q: How would you describe your style?Vintage reworked with a body. I love pieces from the past, I love a graphic, I love big fashion houses when they're doing something innovative, but my roots are eBay and The RealReal and the thrift store. My whole vibe is taking something old and making it mine. I'll sew a belt onto a vintage skirt the morning of Coachella.I'm influenced by my own body and what would have the most reuse value. Of course I dress with my shape in mind, but lately I've been buying pieces that I know I can keep reusing for decades. I'm also obsessed with old-world design. It's bleeding into everything I love.Beyond fashion, I'm inspired by athletes like <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/videos/juju-watkins-on-her-natural-competitive-advantage" target="null">JuJu Watkins</a>. She represents everything great about our generation. She's a generational talent but she's also fully herself. There's no manufactured personality, no playing small. She carries her city and her people with her and she makes excellence look joyful. That's the whole blueprint to me.

Q: What inspires you creatively, and who are your biggest influences?The internet I grew up on, when people made things just because they were funny or beautiful. My mom, who taught me to laugh through the hard stuff—that's&nbsp;the root of everything I make. And old things. Old buildings, old clothes, old techniques. I trust things that have survived.Right now, it's vintage everything, interior design and astrology, always. I'm in Italy right now, eating my way through Florence and losing my mind over 500-year-old craftsmanship.Film and television is another medium I'd like to explore, and that's happening. Physical spaces too. I'm deep in designing my home right now, and it's unlocked something. I think about rooms the way I used to think about videos. I'd love to design an experience people walk through.If I could model something for the next generation, it would be proof that you can own your stuff. I want young creators, especially Black girls, to see someone who kept her IP, built her own companies and didn't rent her whole life out to platforms. The blueprint is the product.

Q: What role does movement play in your life? Do you have any particular routines?Movement is how I stay sane. My job is chaotic, and my brain is louder than most people's, so training is the one place where I'm not performing for anyone. Also, I walk runways now, so my body literally is part of the job.&nbsp;The hardest thing I've ever trained for was the runway. People think you just walk. You do not just walk. That was a childhood dream, and I was not about to be mediocre at my own dream. I was a cheerleader growing up in Texas. Full uniform, full commitment. Cheer taught me performance before I even knew that's what I was training for. You learn how to be watched and still hit your mark.As for my routines, I do sessions with a trainer, lots of walking. And recovery is sacred to me. Baths over showers, always. I've been drinking less. I watched a microplastics documentary, and now I have a stainless steel water bottle like everyone else who's seen it. Wellness for me is also spiritual. I'm deep into astrology, and I treat my body like it's part of the practice.Q: Do you remember your first pair of Nikes?White Air Force 1s from the Nike Factory Store at Allen Premium Outlets in Texas. My mom had a one-shoe-a-year rule, so that decision was serious. I kept them immaculate. Today, my favourite pair is my MF Doom SB Dunks. They were a gift from someone who told me my sneaker game was wack, and honestly, he was right. Now I own grails. I also wore my Nike Air Rifts, the tabi ones, through all of Coachella. Split-toe supremacy.My dream Nike collab would be a shoe that feels like me: vintage soul, modern body. I'd love to bring the Air Rift back into the conversation or do a Dunk with details nobody's done. Vintage materials on a silhouette everybody knows. Something collectors respect but the girls actually wear.I'm the person who rewears and reworks, so I'd want to design one perfect sneaker with a story in every detail. Something people keep for 10 years, not a hype drop they flip.Q: What are you most excited about with this partnership?I love that it's a real partnership and not a one-off. I've done campaigns, but this is a full year of building something together. I've been buying Nikes since I was a kid in Texas, so getting to design with the brand is a full-circle moment my seventh grade self would not believe.A great partnership is when a brand trusts me to be me. My audience has been with me since I was 12, and they can smell a script from a mile away. The best partnerships give me a real seat at the creative table and let the work feel like something I'd make anyway.Nike is about giving athletes what they need to perform at the highest level, and I've been performing my whole life, on the internet, on runways, on camera. We're both obsessed with not being mediocre. Culture moves through my world and Nike's world at the same speed. We both live where the girls and the sneakerheads overlap.

With a career spanning comedy, hosting, modelling, acting and design, Nike's new collaborator talks vintage sneakers, the eye behind her style and what it means to own your own story.

Nike Sportswear

Welcome to the family

5 Questions With Multi-Hyphenate Quenlin Blackwell

On 23 May 2017, Jonathon Riley dropped his Skylon 11s into a Nike shoe-recycling bin. The well-worn, well-loved sneakers were the last of a stash the elite runner had spent years stockpiling, buying up every pair he could find once the shoe was discontinued. He'd run thousands of miles in various Skylons, first as a professional runner and later as a Nike footwear developer. They carried him through everything from long runs at a 5-minute pace to 20-mile training days on the road to the 2004 Athens Olympics, where he competed in the 5,000 metres for Team USA.

Before he let them go, he wrote them a farewell on social media. "You were the last of your kind, you held up well, you were a bad-ass. Thanks for the miles and the memories."Nearly a decade later, the performance-driven, once-elusive Skylon 11 is back—and for everyone who'd admired it from the sidelines.

Looking Back to Move Forwards

The relaunched Skylon is part of a new collection that also includes the return of another distance-running favourite: the Zoom Streak 3, the most decorated marathon shoe in Nike history and one of Nike's most celebrated silhouettes of the pre-Vaporfly era. Together, two shoes that once defined elite athletic footwear have been reimagined for daily wear. For Nike, this isn't nostalgia, it's strategy. The brand has always understood that its performance archive contains something more valuable than history: a design language that culture keeps coming back to. And right now, that currency has never been higher.&nbsp;

"We're always exploring new ideas", says David Mawdsley, expert footwear designer at Nike Sportswear, who led the design of the new Skylon 11. "But those new ideas have to have a sense of familiarity, and that comes from our archives. We're looking back to push forward". As Zack Sweet, senior expert, Nike Sportswear Footwear Product Management, puts it, "Running is essential to our DNA, and we like to look back into our vault for that sport inspiration. Instead of taking the exact recipes of shoes that we've done before, we're always looking for new ingredients to share with the next generation".

Each time, the pattern has been the same: a shoe that earned its credibility through performance finds its moment in culture. The trick is identifying the moment just before it arrives. That's the edge Nike has spent decades sharpening. "We're constantly innovating and redefining what modern means", says Ash Hanson, expert colour and material footwear designer at Nike Sportswear, who worked on both new sportswear shoes. "Sometimes, modern means looking to our past and reinventing it. With the original Zoom Streak, its simplicity and deconstructed design are what make it feel new. In the context of today, where so much of the footwear industry is heavily built up, that simplicity felt fresh".

Edwin Cruz, expert footwear designer at Nike Sportswear and the designer behind the new Zoom Streak 3, recognised the same opening. "The market was almost a bit of a sea of sameness. Very additive, very Y2K, very chunky", he says. "We knew through our archive that we had models that could show the other end of the spectrum. Lower profile, lighter weight, but still expressive". That thinking led to the 2026 releases, each born from the same belief: that the performance archive still has something new to say.

Built for Speed

Like its predecessor, the new Zoom Streak 3 sits low to the ground, with a mesh upper so minimal it almost disappears. The result is something that looks less like a sportswear sneaker and more like something built to move. Which, of course, it is—and was.Between 2009 and 2013, the original Zoom Streak 3 crossed more major marathon finish lines than any Nike racing flat that came before it. A true race-day shoe, every gram was accounted for, its proportions dictated entirely by speed.

The setup was so beloved that when Nike designers began developing what would become the Vaporfly—the carbon-plated supershoe that redefined marathon running—they kept the Streak 3's outsole intact and simply built the midsole taller.After the original mesh was retired, Sweet's team sourced a new material for the 2026 iteration that matched it as closely as possible in both weight and breathability. Everything else follows the original's lead. The heel Air Zoom unit remains, and it's now paired with softer Cushlon 3.0 foam and a slightly wider forefoot.

"We wanted to find ways to progress the design through new technologies, but in a way that's right for the city athlete, someone who's going to be on their feet all day, making sure that person feels as confident on the street as an elite athlete feels on the track", says Cruz.&nbsp;That feeling begins with the design itself, he explains. "Those jagged lines feel like a sense of speed, a gesture of speed. That can resonate with how people are trying to express themselves today. We have this ability to be reductive but still be as confident and expressive".

Speed is a Feeling

The new Skylon 11 takes after its original in the same way. True to its roots, the 2026 version looks like a shoe built for 26.2 miles: cushioned, structured, with the profile of a serious distance shoe. But slip it on and the comfort is immediate.&nbsp;For Mawdsley, getting both of those things right—the&nbsp;look and the feel—meant&nbsp;striking a balance between respecting the original and building something for today."It is my responsibility to ensure that this shoe comes back the way previous consumers remember it but also brings along new consumers", he says. "It's about honouring the people who worked on the product originally. And it's an honour to work on a shoe designed by a Nike legend".That legacy belongs to John Hlavacs, a veteran Nike footwear designer who helped design the original more than two decades ago. Hlavacs says the goal at the time wasn't to chase casual joggers.

"We were definitely in that 'committed-for-life' runner zone", Hlavacs recalls. "The Skylon was our lightest, most performance-minded, most responsive training shoe".Its defining philosophy was something called Natural Motion Engineering, an obsessive focus on how the foot moved through each stride. Deep flex grooves allowed the forefoot to bend naturally, while an arch bridge added stability. Air Zoom, paired with a unique carrier construction, created responsiveness during fast pick-ups but was forgiving enough for high-mileage training.The result was a shoe built to handle practically anything—one of the reasons elite runners like Riley kept coming back to it long after it left the shelves.

Matt Tegenkamp felt the same pull. A two-time Olympian in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres and now a lead innovator at Nike, he too was devoted to the Skylon 11 during his competitive years, noting that it was a versatile training shoe he reached for almost every morning."The 'Swiss Army knife' appeal was the superpower for the Skylon 11", he explains. "It was my mileage workhorse, my tempo or threshold shoe, and it was great for short-burst hill sessions, Fartlek efforts with constant change of pace and form-drill sessions".That unique combination may help explain why so many elite runners struggled to let it go—and why Mawdsley was so determined to preserve that feeling in the 2026 version."When you wear products that emulate speed, you feel like you're living in action", says Mawdsley. "Speed isn't necessarily a physical pace. It can be a mental pace. It's progressive. And in that way, progressive and speed go hand in hand".

For Hlavacs, it took nearly two decades to fully appreciate what he and his team had created. Hearing stories from Olympians like Riley and Tegenkamp, he realises how special it was."Whenever you create something great, it can take years to legitimise what it was that you did. It takes time to realise you've created a legacy".Today, it's come full circle for Tegenkamp. Seeing the return of a shoe that played such a central role in his own career has reinforced what he now knows as someone helping shape the next generation of Nike footwear."When athletes' needs and wants are kept at the centre of our work, the result creates more than a product", he says. "It creates an emotion or a memory that can stand the test of time."I'm excited to see how these fresh sportswear versions resonate with a new set of athletes. I know I'll have a pair—or two—in my closet".

The new Street Racing Collection silhouettes show how Nike taps its icons to create what's next.

Fast Forward: How Distance Shoes From Nike's Vault Inspire Sportswear Sneakers of Today

Some 60 pieces of cut fabric. Pink, black and white with scatters of silver, waterfalling toward the floor. Hoodies, tees, shorts, all sewn, snapped and tied onto a single base. Before it ever touches a body, the skirt Casey Billingsley set out to create feels less like clothing and more like a piece of art.Designed for a legend, it is, by Billingsley's own account, heavy. The first time the celebrity stylist lifted it from the bag, he says, it felt like picking up two 2kg dumbbells—enough&nbsp;to make most people pause.But this isn't most people. This is <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/aja-wilson-interview-overcoming-self-doubt" target="_blank">A'ja Wilson</a>. Three-time WNBA champion, three-time defensive player of the year, four-time most valuable player. An athlete who's spent her career making the game's heaviest demands look effortless.When she slipped it on, she glided."Heavy is the head that wears the crown", says Billingsley. "And A'ja wears it with grace. She goes out on the court every night and she's guarded the heaviest; she goes the hardest. That's just her world, and she does it all with ease".

The Origins of the Look

The idea for the bespoke piece began with a pair of archive Nike trousers Billingsley had owned for years—a patchwork of colour and texture, unlike anything else in his wardrobe. Though he'd worn them only twice, each time, strangers had stopped him on the street. "Who made these?" they'd ask. "Where are they from?"When the chance to build something custom for A'ja's All-Star Weekend came along, he kept coming back to them. "I've always loved those pants", says Billingsley. "The panelling, the colour-blocking, the way they're pieced together. It almost feels like a collage. The moment this opportunity arose, I immediately thought of them and knew I wanted to reinterpret that idea for A'ja".From there, the idea took shape: something junk-styled. Tear-away panels, raw edges, seams left exposed on purpose.&nbsp;Billingsley wanted every part of A'ja's world in the design, specifically, every piece of her own <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/aja-wilson-a-two-second-signature-nike-shoe-and-apparel-collection" target="_blank">A'Two Collection</a>, brought together into one single moment.With the help of pattern maker Da Shoné by DaSh and Nike Sports Marketing athlete-styling services, he worked through each item piece by piece: the A'Sym tight, long-sleeve top, hoodie, Shine shorts, Court shorts, muscle tank top and tee. They cut fragments from each garment and layered them onto a single base, slowly transforming dozens of individual pieces into one.

He and his team built out two versions, trousers and a skirt, before landing on the latter, better suited to A'ja's softer energy. The final look was finished with a high slit, paired with a cropped A'One track hoodie cinched at the waist like a corset in A'ja's signature pink.Billingsley says that from concept to final styling, the vision never wavered."It was very clear to me. I literally didn't think of anything else for this. The initial thought is what was executed, from vision to discussion to sketch to reality. It was just there".

Setting the Stage

Alli Giorgi, who leads product for Nike's women's basketball signature athletes, has spent her career watching these visions come to life. And with styling becoming increasingly important to an athlete's identity, she's developed a keen sense of the moments that matter before they happen."As women's basketball continues to evolve, events like the tunnel walk have become much more than a pre-game ritual. They're a cultural stage that showcases the full identity of the athlete", she explains. "They allow players to express the duality of who they are, highlighting both their competitive excellence and their individuality off the court".For athletes like A'ja, Giorgi says, personal style is an extension of her impact on the game. Her influence goes beyond performance to shape culture."A'ja helped popularise trends like the single-leg tight look and represents a generation of athletes who fully embrace their femininity while being absolute forces in competition. That combination resonates because it challenges outdated perceptions of what an elite athlete can look like and be".

The Art of Listening

With one-of-one projects like these, Giorgi understands that every successful collaboration starts with listening."It's really important that these collections look and feel authentic to the athlete: who they want to be, what kind of vision they want to bring to life for their fans", explains Giorgi. "I've worked with A'ja since the beginning, and I always tell her to make sure that she's giving us her honest truth".Billingsley agrees, noting that years of working with A'ja has helped him understand her look down to its core. Style-wise, she loves pieces that have presence. She appreciates great tailoring, interesting proportions, textures and details that tell a story.&nbsp;"She wants to feel powerful without looking like she's trying too hard", he says. "That's a balance I really enjoy because it's less about dressing someone and more about revealing what's already there".<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/behind-the-design-a-ja-wilson-signature-shoe" target="_blank">A'ja knows exactly who she is</a> and doesn't chase trends, he explains. She gravitates toward pieces that feel authentic. "She's confident, she's playful, she's competitive and she's got that Southern warmth where she can make anybody feel comfortable. But don't mistake that kindness for softness. There's a real strength there".Being from the South himself, Billingsley says he and A'ja share an understanding that getting dressed is about more than looking good. It's about respect—for yourself, for where you came from, and for the moment you're stepping into.&nbsp;They also know how to have fun with it."A'ja has a great sense of humour, so we'll laugh through a fitting", he says. "But when it's time to create, she's incredibly thoughtful. She asks questions, she's collaborative and she trusts the process. If it looks good on her, she's in".

Made from some 60 pieces of her own A'Two Collection, this one-of-one look created for the three-time WNBA champion is proof that style is power, on and off the court.

Making it

Inside A'ja Wilson's Custom All-Star Tunnel Walk Look

For the past six months, I've been reunited with a country that helped shape my understanding of Nike's potential to change lives, build an industry and grow through a deep connection to consumers and a passion for sport.I've travelled extensively across Greater China in that time and witnessed the resilience of Nike and Jordan and our strong connection to athletes* across the country. I've felt it from the unmatched energy of 25,000 fans at a Shanghai Port vs Yunnan Yukun CSL game at Pudong Football Stadium. From the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/lebron-china-tour-rise-eybl-scrimmage" target="_blank">next generation</a> competing in the China High School Basketball League; the Saturday morning pick-up basketball in Tianhe Sports Courts in Guangzhou; taking fencing lessons with Olympic champion <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/cheung-ka-long-wins-gold" target="_blank">Edgar Cheung Ka-long</a> and the truly epic ACG ChongLi 168K Trail Run, where even the threat of a typhoon couldn't stop our team or the 12,000 runners or the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/trail-runner-yao-miao-is-running-down-new-goals-with-acg" target="_blank">inspirational Yao Miao</a> running alongside young girls in the youth race.&nbsp;Sport is a fuel in our cities. It shapes culture and reminds Chinese athletes of all ages and abilities that potential is unlimited. Nike and Jordan are alive and well here. Our foundation is strong, and our connection to athletes is authentic and powerful.

A strong connection to athletes across Greater China, both everyday and elite (such as fencer Edgar Cheung Ka Long, pictured here), keep Nike close to the country's local sport culture.

Nike's invested in athletes at a grassroots level, supporting youth organisations such as the China High School Basketball League and the China Rise boys' and girls' teams.

Chinese ultra runner Yao Miao, known as the "Queen of Trail Running", recently joined the ACG All Conditions Racing Department, ACG's squad of elite trail-running athletes.

I've also spent hundreds of hours on the commercial streets of our cities, visiting malls, observing consumers, studying livestreams, meeting with partners and walking stores with our teammates. This is a fast-moving, deeply connected marketplace. I started my career on the sales floor of a Nike store and have since spent 25 years shaping Nike's global marketplace and consumer experience, with an outsized share of time in Asia, so this opportunity is personal for me. I've seen the power of immersive retail experiences and connected digital to inspire consumers through access to the world's greatest athletes and innovative product. I've witnessed that magical moment of lacing up a new pair of Nike running shoes for a new 5K goal.&nbsp;What all of this has reinforced is simple: our connection with athletes remains strong, but the marketplace is not where it needs to be. Consumers expect authentic product, consistent storytelling and a seamless experience across every touch point. By creating a more consistent, premium and connected marketplace, we can reduce fragmentation, strengthen trust and deliver a better Nike and Jordan experience wherever consumers choose to engage.Rather than keeping pace—or leading, as our history would suggest—our presence has become too fragmented. As consumer behaviour shifted rapidly during and after COVID, some of the steps we took created an experience that is less consistent, less trusted and not delivering the growth we expect.

So we are taking actions with a focused strategy to reimagine our marketplace end to end, starting with digital. Beginning in January 2027, Nike's digital marketplace in China will be anchored by official Nike flagship experiences on Tmall, JD.com and Douyin, alongside Nike.com.cn and the Nike App. These new flagships will serve as the single elevated destination for Nike within these ecosystems, with clearer product presentation, stronger storytelling and more connected consumer journeys. This is about strengthening the platforms where consumers already begin and end their shopping journey, making sure those experiences are direct, consistent and unmistakably Nike.As part of this change, with some exceptions across licensee partners, partner-operated online storefronts will transition out of selling Nike product. This is not about reducing access. It is about reducing fragmentation and strengthening the consumer journey. When the experience is consistent, the brand becomes stronger.This is not just a digital strategy. Nike and Jordan stores remain central to how athletes experience our brands. Our retail partners play a critical role in bringing sport to life across communities, and we are committed to growing together.

In the past six months, we've opened new concepts such as ACG Basecamp and Rookie Kids stores and elevated our existing fleet, including our flagship House of Innovation in Shanghai, and we've seen strong consumer response through positive comps and returning traffic. We are also developing new locally led retail concepts that will come to market in the next six months. The work I've seen is authentic, is innovative and feels like the Nike we know and love.We will continue working closely with partners to elevate product presentation, improve service, sharpen assortments and create more meaningful sport-led experiences in stores. When we make these improvements, consumers respond, and we see clear opportunity to further strengthen the marketplace while creating value for our partners.

Our partner relationships are built on the shared understanding that short-term change is sometimes necessary to build a healthier marketplace for the long term. Yu Wu, chairman, CEO &amp; executive director of Topsports International Holdings Ltd, whom I have come to know and deeply respect, recently described the opportunity this way to me:"As Nike's largest distributor in the Chinese mainland, Topsports has worked with Nike for 27 years based on the principle of mutual benefit and shared growth. This adjustment will bring some short-term pressure to our business. But we firmly believe that, over the medium to long term, this direction will help promote a healthier, more orderly and more sustainable retail ecosystem in China, while further improving consumer experience and product appeal."Looking ahead, we will continue to work closely with Nike, leveraging our strengths in offline retail operations, local consumer service and deep market development across city tiers. Through new concept sport stores and high-quality physical retail experiences, we will bring Chinese consumers richer and more meaningful sport experiences".I couldn't agree more. This is about building a stronger, more sustainable marketplace—one that better serves consumers and supports long-term growth for both Nike and our partners.

We are also making broader changes to get closer to the consumer and support this transformation. We've named our first ever Greater China vice president of local product creation, focused on building product designed, developed and made in China for Chinese consumers. That focus is essential to delivering the speed, relevance and precision this market demands.At the same time, we are strengthening our connection to communities, expanding local activations, investing in regional teams and placing Nike teammates closer to where consumers live, shop and play sport. Because the strongest marketplace is one where product, storytelling, community, digital and retail work together seamlessly. It is where consumers can move from inspiration to purchase to participation without friction. And it is where every interaction reinforces what Nike stands for.

That is the strategy: a more premium digital marketplace, a stronger retail experience, more locally created product and teams empowered closer to the consumer, all working together to deliver a consistent, elevated Nike experience.We are making these changes with clarity and conviction because we believe deeply in this market and its long-term potential. That belief is shaping the actions we are taking now. This work will take focus and discipline. But the direction is clear. The marketplace has changed. So, we will too.&nbsp;And we have the right team in place to keep up this momentum. Our teammates across Greater China inspire me every day. They know this market, understand our consumers and are already doing the work to elevate our brands. Personally, I'm energised and optimistic. Nike's future in Greater China is bright. We remain deeply committed to building that future, one grounded in a stronger, more connected, elevated marketplace, both online and in-store, and focused on serving athletes across Greater China better than ever before.

*If you have a body, you are an athlete.

Cathy Sparks, vice president &amp; general manager of Greater China, lays out a clear strategy for the future.

How We're Reimagining the Marketplace in Greater China to Better Serve Athletes

Kylian Mbappé, France's prolific team captain, is known for his explosive speed, his precision and his ability to be in the exact right place on the pitch at the exact right time.To help one of the tournament's leading scorers play his best—along with every elite Nike footballer—the Swoosh needed to bring that same speed, precision and ideal proximity to its product services. Enter the 2026 Montebelluna Boot Shops, a three-hub system across NIKE, Inc.'s Philip H. Knight Campus (PHK) in Beaverton, Oregon, its headquarters in New York City and its offices in Mexico City.

These pop-up shops, fuelled by <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/inside-the-italian-workspaces-where-we-craft-the-nike-mercurial-boot" target="_blank">Nike Montebelluna's expert boot makers</a> and orchestrated through its Sports Marketing teams, have served athletes all summer long, delivering on speciality boot requests in an average of 24 hours. From Cristiano Ronaldo's custom golden boots to Vini Jr's <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/built-for-speed-nike-unveils-new-mercurial-vapor-and-superfly-football-boots" target="_blank">Mercurial</a> with the Brazilian flag and his personal logo to Mbappé's blue and red Merc with the names of his loved ones added, the Nike specialists made the boots for the athletes who made the moment.Below, go behind the scenes of the Boot Shop at PHK and see how the brand's Montebelluna and Beaverton teams combine old-world craft and modern speed to unlock the next era of serving athletes.

Go behind the scenes of the pop-up shops that helped deliver more than 600 speciality boots to footballers throughout the summer tournament.

The Nike Boot Shops Delivering Custom Requests for Ronaldo, Mbappé, Vini Jr and More

In a sport decided by hundredths of a second, every edge matters, physical and mental alike. At this year's <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/incredible-scenes-from-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-pre-classic" target="_blank">Prefontaine Classic</a>, where the world's top athletes in athletics competed to be the fastest and best in their sport, one edge came in the form of custom warm-up apparel.Ask Masai Russell, who claimed the women's 100-metre hurdles after warming up in Nike's newest cooling innovation: a one-of-one <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/what-is-nike-radical-airflow" target="_blank">Radical AirFlow</a> garment designed specifically for her. The breathable material, which launched in <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/utmb-all-conditions-racing-department-athletes-trail-running" target="_blank">trail running</a> in 2025 and is now making its debut across the track, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DaQJ_fBjdoS/?hl=en&amp;img_index=1" target="_blank">court</a> and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/eliud-kipchoge-radical-airflow-new-york-city-marathon" target="_blank">beyond</a>, is built to harness airflow and maximise the body's natural cooling system."I was astonished because I'd seen the Radical AirFlow material and felt the texture before", says Masai, "but actually trying it on and seeing it here in real life, in the flesh, was insane. I was so impressed by the feel".She wasn't the only one. Eleven Nike athletes wore bespoke Radical AirFlow tops at Pre, including Tara Davis-Woodhall who took the W for the women's long jump and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden who won the women's 100 metres.Designed with each athlete's event and sense of style in mind, the garments served multiple purposes: keep them cool, keep them confident and unleash their speed.

At the premiere track event, 11 Nike athletes work custom apparel that served multiple purposes: keep them cool, keep them confident and unleash their speed.

Nike Running

Innovation Meets Style: The One-of-One Radical AirFlow Looks at This Year's Pre Classic

If you've ever cued up a <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nike.com/nrc-app" target="null">Nike Run Club</a> (NRC) session, you know his voice. He's the one in your ears every time you lace up and head out the door—equal parts coach, philosopher and hype man. Chris Bennett, or "Coach B" to the running world, is Nike's Running Global Head Coach and the man behind the mic on the NRC App.&nbsp;He's one of those coaches who always knows what to say at mile 3. You find yourself nodding along mid-run, digging deeper because he's spurring you on. As the voice behind the free running app with users worldwide, Bennett has become widely popular, his mantras so deeply embedded in running culture that they've taken on a life of their own across Reddit threads and social media posts. "Struggling doesn't mean failure". "If you can't do the run you want to do, do the run you can do". "Kindness is hardcore". They're the kind of lines people write on mirrors and carry through difficult days that have nothing to do with running.

A competitive runner from New Jersey, Bennett ran at UNC-Chapel Hill before coaching future Olympians at the post-university level and building what became the Northeast's most successful secondary-school cross-country programme. When Nike asked him to come on as a full-time Coach in 2014, he wrote his entire coaching philosophy down on a legal pad and handed it over. Those notes became the NRC Truths, and he's been building on them ever since.Now, he's distilled that philosophy into his first book, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href=" https://www.harpercollins.com/products/this-is-about-running-this-is-not-about-running-chris-bennett?variant=44778258399266&amp;utm_source=ig&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=link_in_bio&amp;fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPOTM2NjE5NzQzMzkyNDU5AAGn3pWCp6GXZKEdlPg-KM6Fa9gVZMj9-nNYb-kPhoN_LD5hC_IkZfYqBb6nGmw_aem_pCHhH0eUGgJ6B-I5oALmGg" target="">This Is About Running. This Is Not About Running,</a> a motivational guide that will be released this autumn and is available for pre-order. It's a title that, if you know anything about Coach B, tells you everything. Bennett's not stopping there. Beginning on 7 July, as part of Nike's 2026 After Dark Tour, his popular podcast will feature a months-long series of conversations with women across the world. From elite athletes to first-time racers, Coach B is passing the mic to women who are changing the game and redefining what's possible.&nbsp;Below, he talks about why he fell in love with running, what he believes about the sport and why the job, as he sees it, is never finished.

How did you get into this line of work, and what led you to where you are today?I've been running basically my entire life. I was the fourth of five kids, so if you wanted to keep up with your older sister and brothers, you had to move. That was the first inspiration to run.I grew up in New Jersey, where there's a really rich tradition of cross-country and athletics at the youth level. It was just something you did. I was introduced to it as a team sport, which I think was really important. I wasn't in love with running initially—I was in love with having teammates, and that's what bridged the gap between trying the sport and dedicating myself to it. I was incredibly lazy until I made the connection that my laziness was hurting the rest of the team. That's what actually got me to train consistently and intelligently. It wasn't about me; it was about the fact that I was letting my team down.I got to run for the Nike Farm Team, a post-university Olympic-development team at Stanford University, and my first Coach there was Jeff Johnson—employee no. 1 at Nike and a good friend to this day. I ran for them for five years. I wasn't trying to make the Olympic team, just the trials. But I was training with people who were, and it was a really incredible experience.I had already decided in secondary school that I wanted to coach and teach. When Nike eventually sat me down and asked what I would do if I were coaching the runners who met at their New York City stores, I mapped out a weekly schedule, the kind you'd give to any serious athlete. And that's how I coach. Just because they're not elite doesn't mean I wouldn't treat them like they are. You don't give somebody less of a regimen because they have less speed.

What is it about the Guided Run format and your specific approach that makes people connect with you the way they do?When it's just audio, you're only engaging with one of their senses, which I think is super powerful. People become more focused on what you're saying. With video, people are paying attention to your hand movements, they're paying attention to the background, their mind starts to drift. But when it's just sound, they're more tuned in, which means that what I'm saying has to be honest. When people are hyper-focused, their BS detector is on high.&nbsp;When we first started creating these, I had a couple of rules. One was that this is unfiltered. There isn't anyone between me and the athlete. I've always been adamant that if I was going to do this, it was going to stay unbelievably human. It wasn't going to be like other guided runs. It was going to be grounded in the coaching philosophy that I espouse, which is that kindness is hardcore, and that the best way for athletes to be able to break through barriers or clear hurdles is for them to be supported while they're trying to do it. I won't lie to them. I want them to become their own best coach. With every Guided Run, I want them to need me less and less. I want the athlete to own this. When I'm telling them to do something, they have the final decision.&nbsp;People develop a relationship with me. There are a lot of people I've never met, but we've gone through some stuff. When we do finally meet, it's often a very emotional meeting. That connection is so important. We're in a world where disconnection is only getting greater and greater. Knowing that this is a digital format and we're not in person, I wanted to make sure it was as human as possible. That means that like with human interactions, I ramble. I go off on tangents. I make really bad jokes. I have runs called the "It's OK 5K", the "Struggle Run", the "Tough Day, Easy Run", the "Thank You Run".&nbsp;My philosophy is that when you go for a run, it should be about more than running. I think that's why the connection with listeners has been so intense and durable over the years. You're often described as someone who can make a person believe they're a runner before they've ever even gone for a run. Where does that come from?Well, first, I really believe it, so that helps. But I also think it comes down to the understanding that coaches don't create anything—coaches uncover things. When you understand that, it makes your job so much easier. I don't have to create a runner; all I have to do is convince you that you can do things you don't believe you can do.&nbsp;I like to keep the bar low intentionally. I never say, "I can get you to run a marathon". I say, "I can get you to run from here to the end of the street". You don't believe that counts as a run. My job is to convince you that it does. The second you realise that counts as a run, you've experienced success. Inevitably, what you think next is: I could have gone a little further. I could have gone a little faster. I can do that again. And that's how it all starts.

One of your more famous quips is, "If you can't do the run you want to do, do the run you can do". What do you mean by that?As a runner myself, I used to sometimes put off runs until very late in the day, and then I'd get to a point where it was late and I wasn't going to be able to run for as long as I wanted to. I would convince myself that if I couldn't do the full run, what's the point?&nbsp;It was that all-or-nothing mentality. But there's so much something between all and nothing. If you've got 20 minutes, that's all you've got. So if you run for 20 minutes, you're actually giving it 100 percent of what you've got. How can you diminish yourself for giving it 100 percent of what you could do?This idea ended up in a Guided Run when I was working with Michael Orenstein, NRC's former head of product, and one of the guys who helped develop the runs early on. He was going to a pottery class and he said, "I'm not going to be able to run today; I've got to rush". And I said, "When's the class?" He told me it was 35 minutes from then and a 20-minute drive. So I said, "Why don’t you just go run for five minutes?" I remember him saying, "Five minutes? That's not a real run". And I said, "Five minutes is the only run you can do".I recorded the "Five-Minute Run", put that line in there and it blew up. That was about seven years ago, and it's one of my most quoted lines ever.

You have a book coming out called This Is About Running. This Is Not About Running. Can you talk about the book and elaborate more on the title?It's another one of those things I would casually say that kind of took off. I'd say it after making a point that was seemingly about running, but that was really about something bigger. It goes back to coaching kids. I had to make sure that the 90 minutes I had with them every day counted. I wanted them to have the opportunity to learn something about life. I felt like I would be a failure as a coach if the only thing they walked away with was the ability to go further or go faster.&nbsp;I wanted to give them strengths and habits they could carry into the rest of their lives. How you deal with struggle, how you have relationships with people, how you get through hard times, how you dig deeper, how you act as a supportive teammate to others—these are things that go on during practice. You have to get across to your athletes or your students that these are things you will take with you out of here. Don't leave this at practice. Bring this home."This is about running, this is not about running" has been the foundation of my coaching for 18 years. And the book embodies that—if&nbsp;you're a runner, whether a new runner or a long-time runner, you're going to end the book and you're going to be a better runner. But if you've never gone for a run before in your life, you're going to be a better person. It doesn't need to lead to you running.Regardless of where you're coming from—whether you're about to leave secondary school, going through a breakup, training for a marathon or taking on any other kind of challenge—this book is for you. It's about running. But it's also about much more than running.<ul><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="hvariant=44778258399266&amp;utm_source=ig&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=link_in_bio&amp;fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPOTM2NjE5NzQzMzkyNDU5AAGn3pWCp6GXZKEdlPg-KM6Fa9gVZMj9-nNYb-kPhoN_LD5hC_IkZfYqBb6nGmw_aem_pCHhH0eUGgJ6B-I5oALmGg" target="_blank">Pre-order a copy of Coach B's book in the US</a> </li><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://lnkfi.re/yfzwUn?utm_source=ig&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=link_in_bio&amp;fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPOTM2NjE5NzQzMzkyNDU5AAGnqCOF01UFfBXwJ8XK36zI9N7fDAttdKU2JBLcRLWR75KFBh8RYUAatrhGyYM_aem_Oa3G0bKKyFdPFbYhtx6OHA" target="_blank">Pre-order a copy of Coach B's book in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe</a> </li></ul>

Whether you're a first-time runner or practically a pro, you'll be able to use the advice from Chris Bennett—equal parts coach, philosopher and hype man.

Talking Craft

5 Questions With Nike Running's Coach Bennett

Football on the pitch has always been inspired by the creative expression of street football. In tandem with the beautiful game's biggest event this summer, the electric energy of a global, community-led street football tournament is bringing the thrill of the game to its next era of players. Since launching in Los Angeles last June, Toma el Juego has made stops in Lima, Mexico, Santiago and Seoul.&nbsp;One year in, the grassroots tournament has grown to six continents, reaching more than 10,000 kids across 25 cities to date. Designed to showcase the world's best street footballers and inspire tomorrow's footballers to get in the game, Toma has done so much more. By breaking down the pay-to-play model, it's creating non-traditional pathways for countless young players who want to go pro but otherwise might not have the opportunity to play with a traditional club. "Toma is more than just a tournament, it's an experience and a community", says Caitlyn Penate, a Toma el Juego player. "Everyone is competitive but also supportive and welcoming, so it never feels toxic or overly serious. It's the kind of event where you leave with memories, friendships and a stronger love for the game". What's more, these athletes helped support the Nike Football brand campaign, "Rip the Script". "Toma gave me the chance to be treated like a real athlete", shares Mateo Alcantar, a Toma el Juego participant who was tapped to be featured in "Rip the Script". "I got a stage, a crowd—all the things the pros get—even though I'm a kid. Nike sees me as the future". In the month of June, street ballers around the world competed in tournament finals in cultural hubs such as LA, Mexico City, New York City, Seoul and Tokyo. Dive into the moments below from Toma el Juego tournaments around the world, and see how this generation is growing, evolving and fully owning the game.&nbsp;

The electric energy of a global, community-led street football tournament is bringing the thrill of the game to its next era of players.

The Record