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

25 January 1964. Saturday.The Beatles registered their first number-one hit song in the United States: "I Want to Hold Your Hand".And on a cold, rainy day in Portland, Oregon, a coach and his former athlete met for lunch at the Cosmopolitan Hotel to discuss a possible business partnership.One hour later, Phil Knight and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/bill-bowerman-nike-s-original-innovator" target="_blank">Bill Bowerman</a> stood, reached across the table and shook hands. Blue Ribbon Sports was born.To understand how two Oregonians arrived at that moment—and why it held—we have to go back a decade, to a teenager who had just been cut from baseball.

The Beginning

Phil Knight grew up in Southeast Portland and went to Cleveland High. As he tells it, he was the last cut on the sophomore-and-under baseball team—a decision that stung."I was heartbroken but my mum said, 'You are not going to mope around the house. You're either going to get a paper route or go out for track'. Well, that was easy. I went out for track".That decision set him on a course that would change his life, and, eventually, the sports world.Knight tried out for athletics and quickly found his stride. While he was physically smaller than his teammates, he was fast, competitive and willing to work.At one early meet, his father, William, a labour lawyer who would later become publisher of the Oregon Journal, introduced him to Oregon athletics coach Bill Bowerman. The two older men had attended the University of Oregon together. That day was his first introduction to the coach who would later shape his life.By then, Knight was already starting to win and place in local races, enough to earn a name in Oregon's competitive prep scene. During his junior year, he spotted a headline that stuck with him: Bill Dellinger, a runner from the University of Oregon, who had just won the mile at the national championships under Bowerman's coaching."It was startling", Knight said. "It was a huge headline in The Oregonian and that's when I became aware of Bill Bowerman and what a phenomenal programme he had".

The Hamburger of Runners

Although small and lean, Knight never let size hold him back. In 1955, he played on Cleveland's city-championship basketball team, finished second in the league 880-yard (805-metre) run and took fourth at the state meet. By autumn, he'd earned a spot on Bowerman's athletics and cross-country teams at the University of Oregon.Long before his first practice, though, his father had already turned to Bowerman for guidance—an early glimpse of the connection that would define both men's careers. Curious to get the coach's perspective on whether Phil should attend university or join the military, William Knight wrote to him that autumn.Bowerman replied with his trademark mix of bluntness and care."My first concern is for your young man's education", he wrote. "All will not be fun and frolic. It takes hard work for success in anything … it is a privilege to have your son here, also a responsibility for me, for you and for him".

Like many freshmen before him, Knight soon learned what that meant, struggling under the bombastic Bowerman. "After my freshman year, I had to sit down with myself and ask if I was going to go back to that crazy man, or not", Knight recalled. "I realised if I go back, I'm just going to have to do things his way because he's not going to change. So, I went back".That decision proved pivotal. Bowerman saw potential in Knight—not&nbsp;as a star runner but as an ideal test subject. "I wasn't one of the best runners on the team", Knight admitted. "Bowerman knew he could use me as a guinea pig without much risk".He called Knight the "hamburger" of runners—hearty stock, forgiving, determined—and began using him to test early shoe prototypes. In August 1958, Bowerman sent Knight a letter outlining his summer training plan and added a postscript, "If you have a pair you think would make good flats, send them down. They'll be ready when school starts".The pair Knight received that autumn featured an experimental white, rubber-coated fabric—"the kind you'd use for a tablecloth you could sponge off", Bowerman later said. They were crude, functional and a glimpse of what was coming. The coach was still years from finding a manufacturing partner, but his drive to build a faster, lighter shoe had already found its first willing tester.

From Athletics to Business

By the time Knight graduated from Oregon in 1959 with a degree in business, his competitive drive had shifted from athletics to the classroom. The next stop was Stanford, where he enrolled to pursue his MBA.At first, his path seemed uncertain. But during his final year, a class called "Small Business Management" caught his attention. It was a class that would quietly spark the idea of a lifetime."It was the only entrepreneurship class, so it was one of the classes that I was most interested in", Knight said.&nbsp;He developed a strong rapport with his professor, Frank Shallenberger, who assigned the students a simple but open-ended project: invent a new business, define its purpose and create a marketing plan to support it.Knight had recently overheard a conversation among photographers at the Oregon Journal, where he'd worked summers during university. They were talking about a surge of inexpensive Japanese cameras that were starting to rival the more powerful and costly German models."Electronics was a popular topic at that time and the smart kids chose to write about things like that", Knight said. "But I didn't know anything about electronics, so I wrote about something that I did know about—shoes".Drawing from his experience as one of Bill Bowerman's wear-testers, he built his hypothetical company. By 1962, German sports shoes were on the rise in the US—high quality, yes, but expensive. Knight saw an opening.He turned the idea into a paper he wrote almost literally overnight with a single bold hypothesis: Can Japanese sports shoes do to German sports shoes what Japanese cameras did to German cameras?Knight argued that Japanese-made running shoes could compete on both price and quality with the dominant German brands. Knight received an "A". When the assignment was over, he couldn't shake the idea. "I wrote a letter of enquiry to virtually every Japanese shoemaker that I could find".Only one company replied: the Kow Hoo Shoe Company of Hong Kong. The letter, written in imperfect English, was polite but discouraging."It is with regret to inform you that due to lack of [such] equipment and material, we can hardly manufacture [such] type of shoes and trust that every shoemaker in Hongkong (sic) fails in doing so. We are expert in manufacturing golf shoes, skating boots and bowling shoes, etc.".It wasn't the answer Knight had hoped for, but it didn't matter. A seed had been planted that would soon take root.Shaken but not deterred, he was about to face the opportunity of a lifetime.That story—and more—will come in future Department of Nike Archive features on The Record.

Born of need and elevated by expertise and diligence, today the Department of Nike Archives (DNA) cares for hundreds of thousands of artefacts and a limitless vault of connected stories.&nbsp;The brand archive began organically in the 1970s and officially became DNA in 2006. The department's purpose is to both preserve and accelerate the ever-evolving and interconnected story of Nike. "Knowing who you are and the fights you've come through can do huge things for morale, inspiration and creativity. That's what DNA provides". - Phil Knight

Department of Nike Archives

Go behind the scenes of the famous business deal between Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman—co-founders of Nike.

History

The Handshake That Started It All

About Nike—stories from inside NIKE, Inc.

From his first year travelling to China to his 15th, LeBron James and Nike have used basketball as a cross-cultural exchange to unite players from across the world. During his final stop on the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/lebron-james-forever-king-tour" target="_blank">Forever King Tour</a>, LeBron watched multiple teams face off in Chengdu, their squads separated by thousands of miles: the China Rise men's and women's teams, and the EYBL Cal Stars (women's) and Veritas Academy (men's) based in Los Angeles. Their love for the game might have been born across different geographic lines, but one constant in their personal stories has been <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/lebron-james-china-tour-archives" target="_blank">LeBron himself</a>, who cheered on the teams as they played.

—Photo contribution from <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/zhengyibb/" target="_blank">ZhengYi</a>

Amateur teams from China's Rise Academy and the LA-based Cal Stars and Veritas Academy went head to head during LeBron's China tour. There in attendance to cheer them on: the King himself.

Rising together

Images: <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="/company/people/cameron-strand-contributing-photographer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Cameron Strand</a> Two world records broken. Nike athlete <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/faith-kipyegon-profile" target="_blank">Faith Kipyegon</a>'s 1500m WR, forecast last week during her <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/topics/breaking4" target="_blank">#Breaking4 attempt</a>, and Beatrice Chebet's 5000m WR. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/pre-classic-bowerman-mile" target="_blank">New national records set</a>. Personal bests across the board. All in front of a sold-out crowd at Eugene's Hayward Field, a venue considered sacred ground in the world of athletics. The 50th anniversary of the Pre Classic was every bit worthy of the meet's namesake, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/how-steve-prefontaine-set-the-pace-for-nike" target="_blank">legendary runner Steve Prefontaine</a>, and the images below show what fans of this sport have always known: For witnessing drama, suspense, electric energy and endless passion, there is nothing better than the athlete magic of athletics.

The drama, suspense, energy and passion—if you're not yet a fan of athletics, you're about to become one.

Incredible scenes from the 50th anniversary of the Pre Classic

Editor's Picks

Story Landing

A graphic image takes on new life in the hands of Mark Smith. The power of pictures takes the retired VP of Special Projects in Nike Innovation and long-time Jordan collaborator back to 2005, when he was briefed on an important milestone to the Jordan signature line: the Air Jordan XX, a shoe that would pull out all the stops in honouring 20 years since the debut of the AJ I. The key feature of the shoe would be midfoot straps laser engraved with an unprecedented collage of images from MJ's career. Smith would later describe these details as a living tapestry, a purposefully designed mosaic of images. The graphic had to somehow contain an entire life story within its borders, rendered with the precision that only one tool could then provide."At the time we designed the AJ XX, I couldn't believe the exact detail we could achieve through laser engraving", says Smith. "I was exploring single pulses with the laser and comparing the precision to what I could do with the tip of my sharpest pen. The laser tools were going beyond what we could produce with the human hand".

The Story in the Strap

Smith's remarkably detailed, laser-engraved graphics helped produce some of the most milestone-worthy shoe releases from the original Nike laser launch in 2003 and across the two brands, like the AJ IV Laser, "tattooed" Air Force 1s, and of course, the AJ XX.This time, the silhouette is packed with more meaning on the occasion of <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/doernbecher-freestyle-20-collection" rel="noopener noreferrer">Doernbecher Freestyle's 20th anniversary</a>: a limited-edition AJ XX with newly created iconography on the midfoot straps that celebrates the 122 patient-designers who've participated in the programme since it began.

Smith is no stranger to Freestyle, which grants six patient-designers at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Oregon the opportunity to design their own Nike shoes. In 2006, he teamed up with other Nike colleagues to manifest patient-designer Lance Dillon's vision for a tattoo-inspired Nike Dunk Low. Dillon, a shy 17-year-old, had been diagnosed with leukaemia. ("The first time I met Lance, I held it together through the meeting", says Smith. "Then I went home and bawled my eyes out. This was the coolest, most important thing I could be involved in"). Smith would design a special Air Max 90 for Freestyle's 5th anniversary back in '08 as well as two other patient-designed sneakers, in addition to a commemorative AJ XII in 2015."Sneakers have always been connected to storytelling for me", says Smith, "but when it hit me that Freestyle could potentially change a child's life for the better, that's when I became deeply emotionally entangled".

Air Jordans—and Smith himself—have long-standing roles in commemorating special anniversaries in the Nike and OHSU Doernbecher Freestyle relationship. In 2015, to recognise the 12th year of the programme, Smith created a dozen exclusive Jordan XIIs for the Doernbecher Freestyle event.

Each pair featured Smith's personal application of the shoe's original sketches.

The 12 pairs were then auctioned as part of that year's OHSU Doernbecher Freestyle reveal, with all proceeds benefitting the hospital.

Celebrating with a Silhouette

Mark was approached by friends at OHSU Foundation (OHSUF) to support the 20th anniversary of Doernbecher Freestyle once more. These conversations brought back memories of another silhouette that made magic with the number 20, which then kicked off a partnership between Mark, the OHSUF and NIKE, Inc. to transform the stories from Freestyle's decades-long history into one stunning visual.Understanding which icons, images and emblems to use in the two-strap collage was the earliest challenge, says Smith. He brainstormed over video calls alongside key figures of the programme, like Freestyle Founder and Doernbecher Philanthropy Board Life Member Michael Doherty, his son Connor who helped conceive the programme, OHSUF Board Chair Kelly Schrader and OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital Physician-in-Chief, Dr Dana Braner. They discussed orienting details like first names, surnames, doctors, dates and more. But design needs to work within parameters, and there simply wasn't enough room for all those elements to be arranged in such a specific order. Smith had to take a different, more fluid approach.&nbsp;"I went back to the original graphic on the AJ XX", says Smith. "With the living tapestry for MJ, we wanted the assortment to feel almost like a dream state, when you lose a sense of chronological order and are transported down a path of key memories. There's no start or finish. You navigate it on a personal level".

A storytelling sneaker canvas that originally documented the life and career of MJ, the Air Jordan XX returns with a one-of-a-kind twist for the Doernbecher Freestyle 20th anniversary.

Designed by Smith, the symbols on the midfoot strap represents the history of Doernbecher Freestyle and the 122 patients and their families who have participated in the programme.

Each of the shoe's 20 pairs arrive in a limited-edition box, the design of which mirrors the laser-etched tapestry from the strap.

The custom graphic permeates through the shoe, including on the collar lining and the heel counter.

Exploring the Air Jordan XX Doernbecher Freestyle

The one constant would be each child's initials engraved somewhere on the straps. Soon, the icons practically found themselves: the names of two OHSU therapy dogs, Davis and Casey. Popsicles, which are one of the few foods that children can eat after surgery. The famous aerial tram across the Willamette waterfront that overlooks the hospital. Just a few of the many icons added to the tapestry.A perfectionist at heart, Smith kept early mock-ups close to the vest. He created a dozen versions featuring different layouts, typefaces and scales. The responsibility inherent to the project—to sufficiently represent the spirit of each patient designer within a constellation of other personal stories, full of hope and triumph—is energising to Smith, and it reminds him why he loves what he does."When I create these living tapestries, I'm working on behalf of people to materialise their stories. Doernbecher patients, athletes, celebrities, the responsibility is the same: I'm in service of their stories", says Smith. "I have to hear their stories and act almost like a satellite, pulling in the visuals that are both essential to the subject and that will be recognisable to a broader audience. Striking that fine balance is very important to me. In the end, it's not about me at all".

The Air Jordan XX Doernbecher Freestyle

The final result, a stunning collage engraved onto the midfoot straps, will appear on each of the 20 pairs of the AJ XX set to be auctioned on the Sotheby's site. Each pair is accompanied by apparel and a matching laser-engraved wooden box, all featuring the same Doernbecher iconography from the shoes. The auctions run from 21 October at 9:00 am PT to 30 October at 9:00 am PT. The best part? All proceeds benefit OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital.And yet, in spite of the high price each pair is sure to fetch, for Nike employees who volunteer their time and talent freely, the money raised is still no measure of the programme's true value."Shoes transform into something else with Freestyle", says Smith. "I don't know how to describe it. The moment a child sees a vision for their own shoe become a real object, they're instantly transported from the uncertainty of their situation into the literal healing energy of creativity". He continues after a pause, "It's not ironic that the base of the shoe is called the sole, and it's the one piece that touches the earth".More information can be found at <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/the-air-jordan-xx-doernbecher-freestyle?locale=en&lotFilter=AllLots" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sothebys.com/DB20</a>

The Air Jordan XX receives a special treatment for the 20th anniversary of Doernbecher Freestyle, created by the legendary designer Mark Smith.

Making it

An unforgettable canvas: The making of the Air Jordan XX Doernbecher Freestyle

It's the weekend before the 2024 Chicago Marathon and in the city's Little Italy district, you can already feel the energy in the air. At 6:30am on a Saturday morning, the sun has just begun peeking above the horizon and the light breeze and 15-degree weather are perfect for the nearly 200 runners who have gathered to take on a familiar route: the last nine miles of the Chicago Marathon course, whether they're running the actual race or not. Leading the pack are the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmDd-lWGdMA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Windrunners,</a> the city's first all-women, sub-elite racing team. Their mission: to inspire the next generation of female runners to find their place in the sport.Led by Head Coach Robyn LaLonde and Coach/General Manager Kelcey McKinney, the Windrunners are a collective of 14 women, three of whom are running this year's Chicago Marathon. The group is Chicagoan through and through; <a href="about.nike.com/en/stories/where-to-run-in-chicago" rel="noopener noreferrer">if anyone knows how to run this city, it's them</a>. Their infectious passion and heart for running, plus their hella speed, has drawn people from run clubs and crews across the city to meet up today.

The Windrunner magic

To deliver on their mission of inspiring more women to run in Chicago and around the world, the team lives by three equally important pillars: competition, coaching and community. While there are time standards Windrunner hopefuls must meet—like running a 5:39 mile or a 3:09:30 marathon—there's much more to making the team. Windrunners must also empower and inspire other runners.

"We don't always have great representation of what we can become", says LaLonde. "Every member of the Windrunners works a full-time job; we have many mums and people who do things on top of being an elite runner. And you can do it. Having an awesome team makes it easier, but this could be you and that is the whole point".

The Windrunners are named after Nike's iconic Windrunner Tracksuit, which is designed to protect runners from the elements, including the infamous Chicago winds.

The pack runs through Pilsen on their way to Chinatown with Windrunner and photographer Kelcey McKinney, on the left, capturing images along the way.

Robyn LaLonde is a Windrunners coach and owner of Edge Athlete Lounge, home to the Windrunners.

The crew crosses the south branch of the Chicago River on the Cermak Bridge.

Member Susannah McCloskey brings the positive vibes to Windrunner runs.

The runners of Chicago value camaraderie over competition and many runners are members of multiple run clubs.

For LaLonde and McKinney, what makes the Windrunners special is the team's focus on giving back and showing up. They support myriad community initiatives, including International Women's Day this past spring, when they collaborated with local Latino run crew Chingonas to host more than 150 women on a group run. They also craft programmes like "Find Your Fast", in which 37 women followed a six-week training journey to run their fastest mile. And they look for new members who are driven to do the same."We want individuals who are going to show up for their teammates in the dark, give someone a ride on the way to training", LaLonde says. "It's that athlete who's going to show up for their city".

A Chicago for all runners

At the junction of Taylor and Halsted, near the University of Illinois Chicago, as the crowd of runners prepare to take off, LaLonde and McKinney offer running tips, warm-up moves, stories. It's a grassroots event—the cloakroom is LaLonde's car—and the community pride is evident in the T-shirts and hats repping run clubs and crews across Chicago. There's healthy competition too: the Windrunners are fast and they're pacing the pack.

Afterwards, everyone hangs out, chats and refuels near the Chicago Marathon finishing line, talking about the week—and race—to come. The conversation loops back to the city and what it has to offer runners. The beauty of Chicago, the Windrunners say, is that one moment you can be running through a vibrant district where music's blaring and the next you're by the placid shores of Lake Michigan or dwarfed by architecture that's second to none.

The city's running community, too, lures you in. "You can go to any event and everybody has a genuine support and love for each other", says McKinney. "They'll hop to different groups and it's not a weird thing. They might go for one run club Monday, another one Tuesday, the next Wednesday, Thursday and then back to the one they went to on Monday that weekend".

It's this Chicago running spirit that the Windrunners want to bring—welcoming newcomers to feel part of the team, led by the power of women. "There is a culture for everyone", McKinney says. "Community helps to level you up. You might do well by yourself, but you're 1,000 percent going to do better if you have folks alongside you that are like-minded and helping you get through".

Follow the Windrunners on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/windrunnerschi/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@windrunnerschi</a>.Photos by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thatskmac/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kelcey McKinney</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ladyist/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ashley Armitage</a>.

Meet the Windrunners, the city's first all-women sub-elite racing team.

Feature

A Chicago run team that makes everyone want to run

In Chicago, you never run alone. A robust, diverse running community keeps the city flush with activity, from its picturesque parks and neighborhood routes to its miles of paved waterfront paths. You’ll see run clubs and solo striders, elite athletes and first-time racers, dawn patrollers and run-to-coffee regulars.

We know this because we spent a week with <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/chicago-run-team-windrunners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the Windrunners</a>, a local run team powered by Nike that’s working to break down barriers for the next generation of female runners, fostering community one mile at a time. As Chicago’s first all-female, sub-elite racing team, they know a tip or two about how to best run their city. Here are their seven must-see spots.

This <a href="https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/lakefront-trail" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">impressive path</a> hugs the shore of Lake Michigan for 18.5 miles, making it a top choice for long runs, sightseeing and, if you’re lucky, a tailwind heading back toward downtown.

Lakefront Trail

Recharge like a local:

After checking out this famous footpath, Windrunners athlete Amanda Zubricki recommends indulging in another Chicago staple: the city’s famous deep-dish pizza.“After a long run or race, I love to treat myself to some pizza,” she says. “As we all know, Chicago has the best pizza in the United States. You’ll hear a lot of passionate debates over who has the best deep dish, but I can settle that easily: it’s <a href="https://pequodspizza.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pequod’s Pizza</a>.”

This bustling neighborhood on Chicago’s Lower West Side is steeped in Latino culture, recognized for its public art and lauded among Windrunners as a top running destination.&nbsp;

Pilsen

Alejandra Ruales, who lives in the neighborhood, still finds herself running a 5K route she created last year as part of a fundraiser she organized to collect winter clothing for migrants arriving in the city. "The route is meant to be savored," she says. "It can be a recovery run for both beginners and seasoned runners alike, inviting everyone to immerse themselves in the captivating artistry of Pilsen.”

Ruales favors her local <a href="https://mandalacafeil.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mandala Café</a> for a post-run pitstop. “I usually order their cafe de olla latte and a pandebono [type of Colombian bread] as a post-workout treat,” she says. “Both are to die for!”

Channel your inner whimsy while lapping this city park, named for the late L. Frank Baum, a onetime Chicago resident who wrote the famed children’s book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”“For short runs, I love running around Oz Park,” Zubricki says. “See if you can find all of the Wizard of Oz statues throughout, from Dorthy and Toto to the Cowardly Lion. The park also features a large hill if you need that training.”

Oz Park

One of the Windrunners’ favorite running shops, <a href="https://heartbreak.run/pages/chicago?srsltid=AfmBOorTECK00RKW3ddy7l8OoCvfqz4yECf5YU2OQo-P-9SI0yFsDq54" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Heartbreak Hill Running Company</a>, sits a block away from Oz Park, and is a go-to gear spot for Zubricki. "Heartbreak is great because they offer free community runs, such as&nbsp;speed runs on Thursday and long runs on Saturday, that are open to the public," she says. "During the summer, they also have a water station on the lakefront path where you can snag a drink, electrolytes and Swedish fish!" Inside the Heartbreak store, Zubricki also recommends trying Nike Form to get a running profile with the Nike Sport Research Lab. “You run on a treadmill for two minutes and after analyzing your form, they send you personalized Nike Training Club exercises and footwear suggestions.”

For a scenic 5K or tempo workout, you can’t beat The <a href="https://www.the606.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">606</a>, an old rail line transformed into an elevated, 2.7-mile path featuring gentle turns and elevation changes, along with distance markers every tenth of a mile. A bonus: You'll find a water fountain and public restroom along the path. (“A runner’s dream!” as one Windrunner put it.)With an out-and-back approaching 6 miles, multiple Windrunners also use The 606 for 10K workouts. “The miles seriously fly by on this beautiful path,” Zubricki says.

The 606

Take home a taste of Chicago by stopping by a <a href="https://www.darkmattercoffee.com/pages/locations-mobile-ordering" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dark Matter Coffee</a> location for a bag of local beans or grounds, Zubricki suggests. “My favorite spot for coffee before a run is in my apartment, as sleep is a very important source of recovery,” she says. “I try to give myself all the extra time to sleep before going out for a run, so I make my pre-run coffee at home with Dark Matter Coffee beans.”

The city’s largest park is best seen on foot, with miles of trails introducing runners to spectacular views, sculptures, green spaces and… zebras? The Windrunners recommend timing your outing to the Lincoln Park Zoo’s operating hours, allowing you to pass through the zoo and score a peek of its resident striped equines. Just make sure to study your route ahead of time to avoid navigational hiccups. “Lincoln Park is a great place for a 10K route,” Ruales says. “You can truly find it all and get lost around its paths, see beautiful city views and trails and even get some great views of the zebras at the zoo.”

Lincoln Park

While Chicago is a top-tier running destination, it’s also an amazing city to explore on two wheels. Channel some cycling inspiration from a Windrunner favorite: <a href="https://www.heritagebikesandcoffee.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Heritage Bikes & Coffee</a>, where Susannah McCloskey goes for pre- and post-run joe. “They have tasty food and lattes, and it’s a more intimate space, so it’s great for a smaller group," she says.

While Navy Pier demands inclusion in any Chicago first-timer’s itinerary, runners intent on soaking in the city’s lakefront should look to the iconic pier’s less-touristy brethren. The Windrunners recommend the <a href="https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/north-avenue-beach" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">North Avenue</a> and <a href="https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/montrose-beach" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Montrose</a> piers, which allow you to savor sprawling Lake Michigan panoramas as you set your pace — either speeding up, with the water as inspiration, or slowing down to soak in the scenery.

North Avenue and Montrose Piers

From the North Avenue pier, head due west to <a href="https://coreysbagels.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Corey’s NYC Bagel Deli,</a> which, despite its name, even local LaLonde says is the best bagel in town, touting it as “fast, carb-packed and forever friendly.”

Chicago is comprised of unique, diverse neighborhoods, and to get the full vibe, venture outside of the city’s central core. This South Side gem, the site of World's Columbian Exposition, more commonly known as the Chicago World's Fair, has miles of historic streets and trails to explore.

Jackson Park

Cool down with a visit to <a href="https://www.sipofhope.com/locations" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sip of Hope Coffee’s Hyde Park Café</a>, where all proceeds support mental health education. “Drink delicious coffee and try tasty pastries while supporting an amazing cause,” Zubricki says. Win win.

Photos by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thatskmac/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kelcey McKinney</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ladyist/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ashley Armitage</a>.

Chicago’s running scene offers parks, paths and neighborhoods that beg to be explored on foot. We asked the Windrunners, a local run team, to highlight their seven must-see spots.

Fan hub

A Local’s Guide to Running Chicago

A Local's Guide for Where to Run in Chicago

Seeing Eliud Kipchoge fly by at a 4:34 marathon pace is catching just a glimpse of the greatest of all time honing his craft. Most of his running career hinges on the thankless, unglamorous but essential training sessions that build his reserve for breaking records. The Kenyan marathoner is synonymous with the Vaporfly and the Alphafly, the pinnacle of Nike's racing products. In reality, Kipchoge uses many different shoes during training for different workouts—long, easy runs, fartleks, hills and more. He doesn't just need a super shoe. He needs a super trainer—a&nbsp;shoe that borrows traditional components from racing footwear, like carbon-fibre plates and unique midsole geometries, and translates them into a more durable shoe for year-round training.&nbsp;<a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/zoom-fly-6-official-images" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Zoom Fly 6</a> is Eliud's latest addition to his training quiver for those days when he needs to push the pace. The silhouette is also emblematic of Eliud's commitment to test, improve and validate Nike Running's full line-up of race footwear. According to Elliott Heath, senior expert of running footwear at Nike, Eliud's product knowledge borders on the professional.&nbsp;

"We've started to call Eliud our product line manager on the ground", says Heath. "He's doing hand sketches and writing dedicated notes about our prototypes—that's his baseline. Over the last couple of years, he's gone to the next level of building feedback sheets, giving them to his running camp teammates and asking them to give their own notes. <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-and-eliud-kipchoge-celebrate-20-years" rel="noopener noreferrer">He's the world's best marathoner</a>, but he actually feels like a member of our product team".In the past, Eliud has incorporated the Zoom Fly into his rotation, especially the 5, which was a perfect trainer for his easy Monday runs; he'll step outside his front door and go anywhere from 12 to 18 miles. When he tested the 6, he immediately noticed the lighter weight and more comfortable upper, both of which he relayed to Heath in his soft-spoken, methodical manner. He's willing to give constructive feedback, too, but always graciously, such as when he recommended adding a slightly more durable material along the outsole, helping the shoe better withstand a rigorous training schedule. "It's worth giving a thought", he scribbled in his notes.

Other cues from Eliud, says Heath, are less obvious but just as revealing. A thoughtfully long pause between sentences. A decisive nod of the head about a feature that's working. Most notably—and this is what happened with the Zoom Fly 6—he simply smiles, turning the shoe over in his hands.

Watching Eliud so eagerly review every shoe in Nike's line-up is inspiring for Heath and his team. Eliud's notes help ensure that every Nike silhouette serves a distinct purpose. No one's as qualified to give that precise, attuned feedback as the greatest marathoner of all time."Eliud's commitment to testing our shoes is a testament to how we partner with athletes all the time, not just on race day", says Heath. "What you do in a race is 5% of your running journey. Anyone who's racing marathons is spending 95% of their time in other shoes, gritting their teeth through the easy and hard miles that aren't glamorous. Any time an athlete wants us to be a part of their 95% as well as their 5% on race day, that's when we have the real potential to better serve our runners".

How does Nike use athlete feedback? See and hear marathon GOAT Eliud Kipchoge's line-by-line and word-for-word notes on your next best training shoe.

Hear from our ultimate wear-tester on the new Zoom Fly 6

In her wheelchair, Italian fencer Bebe Vio lunges forward toward her opponent, pivoting from her hips to gain leverage, her prosthetic forearm slicing her steel fencing foil across space and finding a target smaller than a penny. For Bebe, this symbiosis between her body and her equipment had been a perfect pairing. But a plaguing pain in her arm was growing so unbearable, after competitions, Bebe would commonly need to take two-week breaks to recover before returning to training. Doctors told her she might need to stop fencing altogether otherwise she could inflict permanent damage to her body.

The world champion fencer had visited Nike during a 2022 cohort gathering for <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-athlete-think-tank-second-cohort" rel="noopener noreferrer">Athlete Think Tank</a>, an annual summit of the world’s top female athletes to talk about how Nike can serve women more completely. An offhand conversation between her and Tobie Hatfield, Sr. Director for Nike’s NXT Space innovation team, was the trusted space where Bebe opened up about the mysterious problem. Hatfield knew his team was uniquely suited to help.“Whenever Bill Bowerman designed something for his athletes, he liked to quote the proverb, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention,’” says Hatfield. “At Nike, we’ve added to that phrase: ‘Ultimate necessity is the mother of invention.’” In addition to creating solutions that benefit everyday athletes at a large scale, Nike also fulfills this mission by solving for the most specific, one-to-one needs for its athletes, he explains. “Even if a product doesn’t go to market, the insights we learn inevitably serve all athletes. And we saw a tremendous opportunity with Bebe to serve an ultimate need to continue her storied career."The first goal was to understand the root of Bebe’s pain. Hatfield and his team in the <a href="https://lebronjamesinnovationcenter.nike.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LeBron James Innovation Center</a>, which included Nike Lead Mechanical Engineer Lucie Browning, studied Bebe’s competition footage intensively to hypothesize where the pain was coming from. Though fencing is a picture of grace and precision, it is also a collision sport. In Bebe's chosen discipline of foil fencing, vibrations that were generated by foil on foil contact during competition and in training were shooting up Bebe’s prosthetic and into her arm, causing sharp, acute pain. What was happening? Maybe it was the result of a long career of repetitive motion, starting to break her body down with the accumulation of all those foil vibrations. Or maybe it was the blunt force of those repeated strikes. Maybe it was both.

Bebe's physiology was a unique transistor to that pain. At 11 years old, Bebe contracted a rare form of meningitis, leaving doctors a small window to amputate both forearms and both legs below the knee to save her life. The nerve endings at those amputated regions are, many years later, still highly sensitive. The effects of the meningitis also left her with low bone density and extra sensitive skin. Her tough-as-nails constitution is even more impressive, given how she withstood this chronic pain for years of elite competition and training. Whatever solution the Nike innovation team created had to find a harmonious balance between Bebe’s unique anatomy and the demands of her sport.In the summer of 2023, Browning and her team visited Bebe at her training facility in Rome to better understand the problem. They asked Bebe to show them the different types of moves she performs to strike an opponent or defend herself, to see all the ways her fencing foil might be contacted and relaying vibrations through her arm and body. The team outfitted Bebe’s foil and her prosthetic with special sensors, and then measured her foil strikes. The engineers learned that Bebe’s pain issue wasn’t a matter of just one specific vibration frequency, but of all the resonant frequencies of the system. If you’ve ever hit a foul ball off a baseball pitch where the ball hits the knob of the bat, you know the feeling. It's the shiver that runs up your hand, your entire arm, and through your shoulder. That’s similar to what Bebe was feeling over and over again as her fencing foil connected with her opponent’s.Now that the problem was clear, the next goal was specific: reduce the foil vibrations reaching Bebe.“When we began problem-solving, we didn’t set out to make a completely new prosthetic,” says Browning. “It was important to adapt whatever we made to work with Bebe’s existing equipment, so she didn’t need to make too many changes all at once.” Browning explains that Bebe’s foil blade is regulated by her fencing federation, so it couldn’t be changed. Behind the hilt of the foil, however, where there would usually be a handle, Bebe was allowed a custom connector to join her fencing prosthesis directly to her foil. That customization is what enables her to fence without a hand. In fact, Bebe is the only athlete in the world who fences with a forearm prosthesis. It was Bebe’s father — an engineer himself — who created her original system that enabled Bebe to continue fencing after her meningitis. Bebe is now so familiar with her fencing prosthesis and her control of the fencing foil, it feels like she’s using her own hand. “The weight of the new prosthetic we built, its composition, the way it travels throughout space — it had to match what Bebe was used to,” Browning says.

To accurately measure vibrations, the Nike team mounted accelerometers near the base of Bebe’s foil blade and at the elbow-end of her prosthetic. Fixed positions for those sensors ensured the vibrations could be registered in a repeatable way — critical for comparing different sets of data. Next, the team asked Bebe to perform a series of foil strikes to collect data to compare the signals. The larger the amplitude of vibration, the more it registed on the accelerometer. And the greater the difference between the incoming vibrations (what came in through her foil) versus the outgoing vibrations (what transferred through her prostethic to her arm), the smaller the impact to Bebe’s body. “Ultimately, the goal was to create a significantly smaller vibration signal — ideally zero — at the elbow-end of her prosthetic,” Browning says. “This would mean the team had successfully limited the vibrations reaching Bebe.”The team considered two solutions: Dampen the vibration energy shooting from the foil up to Bebe’s arm, or, isolate her foil from her prosthetic — essentially separating her from the painful vibrations.With those options in mind, the engineers set out to modify Bebe’s prosthetic. But with only the original device to work from, they’d need to build replicas for testing. They took a CT scan of Bebe’s prosthetic using specialized equipment in the <a href="https://lebronjamesinnovationcenter.nike.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LeBron James Innovation Center</a>, allowing the team to precisely match the internal geometry of her prosthetic. This gave the team confidence that Bebe would be able to connect to and wear the Nike prototypes immediately, in the exact way as her original, but with less pain.

At left, Bebe's original prosthetic with accelerometers mounted at both ends to measure the vibrations coming in through the foil and going out into Bebe's upper arm. Those vibrations are represented in the graph at right.

A CT scan of Bebe's original prosthetic, revealing to the Nike team more about how the vibrations were reaching Bebe.

Cross-sectional images of the CT scan showing the internal surface of Bebe's prosthetic, which the team would need to replicate in their prototypes.

Over nearly two years and five different prototypes, the Nike innovation team homed in on the ideal solution — a combination of dampening and isolating technologies. Using 3D-printed nylon as a base material for prototyping unlocked an ability to build, test and iterate quickly. The engineers also brought a new approach to the overall architecture of the prosthetic-foil interface. By splitting the prosthetic up — separating the end which joins to the foil, from the end which joins to Bebe’s body — the team could test many more dampening interventions than if the prosthetic was a single object.The prosthetic’s final design, which the group presented to Bebe in early 2024, was the team’s most effective solution at both dampening vibration energy and maintaining Bebe’s control of her foil. The Nike team had added silicone and silicone-based material at every place where the parts of the prosthetic connected together — the locations through which vibrations had to pass in order to reach Bebe. The new dampening material helped reduce the vibrations reaching Bebe. A newly added clamp at the connection point between the prosthetic and the foil created a more controllable system, helping Bebe to translate her movements more efficiently and precisely.

A cross-sectional view of the Nike team's first successful prototype; the blue highlighted areas are the elastomers the team added to dampen the vibrations's energy.

The graph at top shows the vibrations generated with Bebe's original prosthetic and the graph at bottom shows the vibrations from Nike's final prototype. The result: at least a 50 percent reduction.

Lead Mechanical Engineer Lucie Browning explains how the team added a lightweight but rigid sheath to the final Nike product to create a smooth surface that wouldn't cause a competitors foil to lodge in the prosthetic.

And the results were looking good. The new prosthetic surpassed Bebe’s original prosthetic in every objective measurement test. Most important, the vibration transmission was significantly reduced. In the new prosthetic, Bebe received at least 50% fewer of the vibrations passing through her foil and new prosthetic as compared to her old set up.

Of course, the ultimate verdict had to come from Bebe herself. She donned the prototype and took it through its paces. “Bebe was interested enough in that new design that she wanted to take the prosthetic back home to Italy and start training with it to see how her exposure to vibration would be different over an extended period of use,” says Browing. “The good news was that she found it did reduce her pain during and after training.” That prosthetic is essentially the same version Bebe’s used this summer, with a few tweaks and improvements as she’s given the Nike team feedback.

The new prosthetic has transformed into an essential piece of Bebe’s athletic identity. Part of that identity is being at the top of her game for as long as possible, which harks back to the core need that started the Nike design process two years prior, when the pain shooting down her arm threatened her career altogether. Bebe didn't just need her new prosthetic for the here and now. She needed it for the long haul, a tool that could keep up with her tireless aspirations to keep training, competing, and winning.That challenge to find personal solutions for the most audacious of problems, says Hatfield, is where all good product design begins.“When we listen to our athletes and innovate for their ultimate needs, desires and aspirations, that's when we do our best work."

When a mysterious pain in the Italian fencer's arm was becoming unbearable, doctors told her she might need to stop competing altogether. That's when Nike stepped in to help.

Matching Bebe Vio to Her Ultimate Fencing Tool

Jian Zihao—or Uzi, as the world knows him—was an Esports legend, amassing a 10-year champion's career by the time he was 23 years old. But in 2021, Uzi was forced to retire because of health issues; he was suffering from diabetes, heart rate issues and obesity. Having joined the Nike family in 2022, the Swoosh asked Uzi if he was up to training for a 10K running challenge. Uzi said no. If he was going to change his health, his life, he was going to go all in, he told Nike. "The key word to me is challenge", he says. "If I'm going to run, let's do a full marathon". Take a behind-the-scene's look at Uzi's journey with Nike to running a marathon during the summer of sport in Paris.

Former professional Esports gamer and Nike athlete Uzi challenged himself to run his first 26.2—and changed his health and life in the process.

How a marathon can turn a life around

It was September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan and the rain was coming down in sheets, the air thick with humidity. Powering her wheelchair through the final meters of the Women's T54 Marathon, Nike athlete and six-time Paralympian Tatyana McFadden crossed the finish line in fifth place — an incredible race on the international stage, but still a dip for one of the world's most decorated track and field athletes, who'd finished second in the Rio Olympics and had 20 Paralympic medals to her name in events ranging from the 100-meter to the marathon.While endless factors play into the outcome of any race, Tatyana trusted the Nike team with a problem she'd been facing: The rubber gloves she wore to push the rubber wheel of her wheelchair — gloves in which she'd glued strips of sandpaper to improve their traction in the wet conditions — kept slipping and holding her back. To achieve her highest athletic potential, she knew she needed a better solution.Engineers and designers on the Nike innovation team knew they could help.

In 2022, Nike designers met with Tatyana at the company’s World Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. to create the best possible traction glove ahead of her events in the 2024 Paris Games.The first step in creating a better solution was understanding the problem, says Eunice Lee, Ph.D., Nike Principal Materials Innovator, who helped lead the push-glove project. "Before this project, we didn't know the extent to which wheelchair athletes were using these kind of handmade glove contraptions," she says. "This was an unmet need in Tatyana's racing set-up, and we knew that we had the capabilities to help create something far better." Tatyana was born with spina bifida, a congenital disorder that paralyzed her from the waist down. Growing up, she took on a variety of sports to strengthen her muscles, and began racing at the age of eight. Competing in the wheelchair division on both the track and roads, Tatyana’s connection with and use of her chair is critical to her success in training and on race day. The strength and power she brings to the range of her events is unparalleled, and is predominantly seen in her hands’ connection to her wheels to propel her forward. At the Nike Sports Research Lab (NSRL) in Beaverton, Nike engineers and designers conducted several traction and motion studies with Tatyana to better understand her position and the forces she puts into her push gloves — how she positions her hands to push, pull, pivot and release from the rim of the wheel, a motion she did countless times, again and again, during the course of a race. The tests also tracked her hand and wrist’s weight distribution, so the team could create a push glove that was durable and comfortable, a key improvement from her current grips.Tatyana told the team that, often times when she would start her push, her grips would slip off her hands and her hands and arm would connect with the wheel, leading to chafing and bruises."We knew we needed better traction from her hand to her glove and also for the pad of the glove to the rim of the wheel, so that it didn’t slip," Lee says. "Then the whole thing needed to weigh less and be in a customized shape for the best-possible comfort."

While Tatyana continued training and racing, the Nike innovation team&nbsp;created a test robot to conduct&nbsp;two years of testing and rapid&nbsp;prototyping of various patterns, weights, stiffness and material competitions to find the optimal solution custom to Tatyana’s needs, while replicating wet and humid race day conditions where traction is priority.

"In testing, we had to give her wheelchair wheel some resistance, to mimic wheeling over the ground, so we created a smaller wheel that added resistance to her wheelchair wheel — which was its own whole project," says Eunice Lee, Ph.D., Nike Principal Materials Innovator.

The team had to quantify how much better the different material and traction combinations were compared to Tatyana's old rubber glove, calculating “slippage” for each combination.

From materials like TPU, nylon and yoga mat foam that were hard, soft, cushy, and sticky, the team tested hundreds of different combinations to find the best combination of material and surface traction.

"We used the exact wheel that Tatyana used, and with our robot, tested hundreds of computational designs with traction patterns inspired by nature and Nike rubber outsoles, in wet and dry conditions," Lee says. The team was searching for the ideal combination of material and traction that would provide the most comfort and durability for Tatyana throughout a race — but it had to be just the right amount of traction, not too tacky, for example, that Tatyana couldn't release the wheel at the end of her push.

In May 2023, the Nike team met Tatyana in New York City's Central Park for trials of the new push glove prototypes. The team had narrowed their test prototypes down to a dozen combinations, and Tatyana could tell right away which were the best traction patterns. "She picked her three favorite designs and that was our starting point to finalize the design based on her feedback," says Lee. "Listening to her athlete feedback in real-time was paramount to arriving at the best solution."

The Nike team arrived at a material for the glove's pads made of galvanized wire, providing grippy traction that could perform through wet, humid conditions.

"We happened upon this wire material made by a small company in Italy —  manufacturers use the wire to create fleece by scratching fabric's surface with this wire, and it's also used for horse brushes," says Eunice Lee. "We worked with the company for 10 months to find the right length, density and angle to create a push-glove grip surface that met Tatyana’s needs."

After two and a half years, hundreds of tests and dozens of prototypes, the final product that the Nike team sent to Tatyana for Paris offered 40 percent better traction than her old gloves.

The Nike innovation team hopes this project's insights will lead to solutions for wheelchair athletes playing tennis, basketball and other sports. The reward right now is the outcome for this iconic athlete. Tatyana is competing in five events in Paris — the Women's T54 100 Meter, 4x100 Meter, 400 Meter, 800 Meter, 1500 Meter and the Marathon — and if she medals, she'll become the most winning American track and field athlete of all time, Olympian or Paralympian. "This is why we love the work, to create innovation with a clear and immediate benefit," says Lee. "Our team is proud to have the resources to create unique solutions like this glove, which embodies our belief to always do the right thing for athletes. Working with Tatyana and delivering the final glove to her&nbsp;really is a full-circle Nike moment, something you can only do here." As for the track and field legend herself? After receiving her final push gloves, she wrote this note to the Nike innovation team: "I'm soooo excited to have a working pair of gloves! I just keep remembering in Tokyo where it rained every single day, and I had such trouble with my grip, and didn't medal in those events. Now I can have peace of mind knowing that when it rains or has high humidity, I can be competitive. Thank you, thank you! Ready to rewrite my story!"—Tatyana

An upgrade to one key product could be the unlock for the legendary track and field athlete to achieve her highest potential.

Tatyana McFadden Is the Fastest Woman Alive — the Nike Sport Research Lab Wanted to Help Her Get Faster

Nike athlete Tatyana McFadden is one of the most successful athletics athletes in the world. She's won four New York City marathons and 20 Paralympic medals, in events ranging from the 100 metres to the marathon.Throughout her life, she's been an advocate for accessibility to sport for all, and her ability to navigate and surmount challenges feels innate.In this audio excerpt from our Nike On Air episode with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuWV5E_PQ_g&t=71s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Womanica</a>, Tatyana describes her origin story starting at a Russian orphanage and her determination to be a survivor—and so much more.

To hear the full interview with&nbsp;Tatyana—and&nbsp;learn more about how she's become one of the most successful athletes in athletics and expanded sport access to all—check out her Womanica podcast on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nike-on-air-the-fastest-woman-in-the-world/id1464524725?i=1000661301698" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Apple</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6TzjBFTVrvYV8TrWrqv5bV" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuWV5E_PQ_g&t=71s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">YouTube</a> or wherever you get your podcasts.

The fastest woman in the world has always possessed steely resolve. Hear her describe it.

Nike exists to serve the complete athlete, and shares their winning mentality. As a champion for athletes and sport, Nike partners with athletes who share the belief that sport can break barriers, push limits, spark change and move the world forwards.

Brand of athletes

For the win

Born tenacious: how Tatyana McFadden became the champion she is today

Interview by﻿<a href="https://alessandracodinha.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">ALESSANDRA CODINHA</a>The success of the trainer/athlete relationship, like that of most relationships really, comes down to a lot of hard work and a little bit of chemistry. Or in the case of Nike Well Collective Trainer Kirsty Godso and the model and actress Kaia Gerber, a lot of hard work and lots of chemistry. Over 3 years of working out together five days a week (that's tens of thousands of reps in case anyone's counting), Kirsty is still the person Kaia is most psyched to spend time with, even on those days when working out is the last thing she feels psyched to do. And for Kirsty, the feeling is entirely mutual.&nbsp;And as Kaia has gained strength—with Kirsty helping her to unlock an athleticism she never dreamt she had—so too has their bond. Alessandra Codinha sits down with these twin flames to talk about the importance of accountability, the beauty of setting random personal fitness goals and the magic of unexpected synergy.

﻿ALESSANDRA CODINHA How did you two first get—and start moving—together?KIRSTY GODSO Kaia and I first met in a Pilates class in 2021. One day she was like, "Oh, I'd love to train with you". We started working out together five times a week, and the rest is history.﻿ALESSANDRA What do you appreciate the most about each other since you've been working together?KAIA GERBER Oh my God, yeah. Start with the light one.KIRSTY I think our humour and our loyalty. We have such a fun time in the gym. Sometimes it's really difficult being a personal trainer. You are tired, and you are giving away your passion all the time, and working out last or not working out at all. And what I love about Kaia is it never feels like that with her. It feels so reciprocal all the time. She's such an amazing friend to me. You are my fiercest cheerleader. And I feel like I am yours. Whenever people see us working out together, they're like, you guys are always laughing, you're always having a good time. Even if it's on a day where maybe one of us doesn't feel that way, we feel better when we walk away from that session.KAIA There are so many aspects of my life where I have to show up as a certain person or a certain idea of a person. And I feel like with KG, I can show up exactly how I am that day. She knows everything about me, and I love not having to explain anything to her. We really stand up for each other and encourage each other to stand up for ourselves. I just find so much strength in her. She's the closest girlfriend I have.KIRSTY My God, I'm gonna cry. We're getting married.KAIA I know, these are the vows.

﻿ALESSANDRA What was your fitness background when you started working together?KAIA l honestly never considered myself to be athletic and got told in PE that I was the least athletic person they had, ever. And when people used to tell me that working out was actually for your mental health, I was like, that's not true. That's crazy. Now I'm one of those people who is like, you know what would really help your mental health?Being strong is so much about the way that you feel rather than the way that you look.﻿ALESSANDRA Those are the benefits of this holistic movement-type fitness programme, right? Because it's physical. It's mental, and it gives you that emotional feedback, too.KAIA Yeah, absolutely. Some days that's the only hour of my day where I'm doing something for myself. It's also sometimes the only hour of the day where you're not on your phone. It forces you to really be present and in touch with yourself.KIRSTY I feel like I'm overwhelmed as a person, and I'm not in the public eye. So I can't imagine how overwhelming that is if you don't have a practice to anchor you and help you recalibrate.KAIA It's why I love movement so much and what KG and I do together, because your body does not lie to you. It's so easy to go through life and kind of cast our feelings aside and focus on work or focus on things that feel like they matter, but they don't. Your body literally does not lie to you. So if you are doing something that is active and really taking that moment to connect with your body, it's such a smart indication of where we're at mentally and physically. You can't fake it. You have to practise patience and acceptance with yourself as well. I really like that. It forces this really honest connection with yourself.

﻿ALESSANDRA Tell me about a training session. What's the vibe?&nbsp;KIRSTY Well. It always starts with caffeine and enthusiasm. We take care of the body with activation, foam rolling. And then she'll go through a really impressive cardio warm-up that's not for the faint-hearted. We do it all. We do strength. We do Pilates-based stuff. We do running, we do high intensity, we do conditioning, we stretch. Recovery is much better when you have a well-rounded training plan. But I think the most important thing is our training sessions are so focused because Kaia is so diligent. I only have to tell her something once and then that's it, she knows it. So we can get through so much work because she's so present in that hour. That allows us to absolutely maximise that time and get the most out of whatever she needs in the session.KAIA What I've noticed with the work that I've been doing with KG is that it applies to so many different parts of my life. I see the benefits across so many different areas.KIRSTY It's funny. I think mentally, too, we're wired the same way. We have the same drive. We are both bad about boundaries and different things.KAIA We both give too much. But I also think I was, you know, from a very young age in an industry that is very look orientated. And so working with KG has helped change my relationship to physical activity and strength. You might have a specific way you thought that you would want to look, but it's not the way that you feel the best. Sometimes we set these standards on ourselves that are not actually healthy.KIRSTY When we first met, one of the first things you said to me was, I want to feel strong. And I thought it was really cool, because I think you were 20 at the time. Not many 20-year-olds would. People are like, oh, I want to look like this.KAIA I spent so many years thinking I want to look like this, that by the time we met, I was ready to just feel good. Like, I think I would like to feel now. [laughs] I'd like to feel healthy.KIRSTY That's the thing, too, with fitness in general. You hear people talk about it all the time, how do you want to look? I always ask people, how do you feel today? Because if you tell me how you feel, that's a better barometer. I always tell people, yo, you can have the best body of your life. But if you never see it that way and you don't feel connected with yourself, it doesn't matter, it's for nothing.

KAIA You won't even be able to appreciate it.KIRSTY And I think what's fun, too, when you train someone, is making it personal. OK, what are your goals? What is your current structure? Are you getting ready for a role? Do you have a show coming up? Do you have this? Do you have this? We can factor in all those things. And then she's also just like, "I want to run a six-minute mile". I'm like great, OK, cool. We're going to slot that in on this day.KAIA We'll set random goals that are just personal.KIRSTY Just-for-fun goals. It's shocking to me that someone told you you're not athletic because you're so coordinated. So I'm like, who is this evil person? Like, you can't say stuff like this to a child.KAIA But that's the thing, the things that your teachers say to you when you're little—KIRSTY You believe it.KAIA You remember it. And it's a story you tell yourself for the rest of your life. That's why I love KG, she's so proud of me.KIRSTY She's like, I'm a terrible runner. I'm like, no, babe, I hate to break it to you ...KAIA I would get a doctor's note to get out of running the mile. And now KG's like, we're getting on the treadmill. And I'm so excited.KIRSTY She's like: Here we go!KAIA But you have to be around someone who's&nbsp;encouraging and lifts you up. I want positive reinforcement, I want encouragement. And that wasn't always given to me. So I think like having that, like I just want to make her proud.KIRSTY I'm so proud.

﻿ALESSANDRA What have you learnt about yourself through coaching, or being coached?KIRSTY It's important on the days that you don't care about yourself that someone else can care for you and remind you why you're there. Working out can be a very personal pursuit, and sometimes it can be a little bit lonely. So having a coach is just this accountability metric. It feels like you're doing it with someone. That makes it feel a lot more doable. And there's something really self-fulfilling about making people feel better about themselves. Like, that's a win for both of us.﻿ALESSANDRA Any fitness myths you want to dispel? KAIA Being a young woman, there's so much noise about how you're supposed to look. So I loved that KG asked me, how do you want to feel? Especially on the days where I'm like, I don't want to be here. I don't want to go to the gym. I don't want to do it. Afterwards you feel so good because you're like, I can do hard things!&nbsp;KIRSTY I really want people to see that Kaia is such a positive role model, because I don't think they understand her mental relationship with fitness and how healthy it is. It's not the use and abuse thing we see a lot. It's really just about being like, hey, you should want to take care of your body and take care of your mind through making good and healthy decisions.KAIA My mum started [working out] at a pretty young age too. And she never let that go. Even with having children and everything. It's been such a constant in her life and it still is. And that always really inspired me. So once I formed that relationship with fitness myself, I was like, oh yeah, you marry it. You don't just date it.&nbsp;KIRSTY Because once you know how you feel it's hard to go back. Even when sometimes we're like, oh, I should go out to this thing, it'd be fun. But I really just want to get up and feel good in the morning and go to the gym.KAIA People might think we're boring, but actually, if you see us in the gym, we're not boring! We're very exciting!&nbsp;KIRSTY We are having a blast.

Words and images from the <a href="https://linkin.bio/nikewomen/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nike Women</a> Zine, Volume 1.

The two talk about the importance of accountability, the beauty of setting random personal fitness goals and the magic of unexpected synergy.

Stronger together: Kaia Gerber and Kirsty Godso are twin flames

Hoopers A'ja Wilson and Dawn Staley's history is written in championships. A'ja helped lead the South Carolina team that Dawn coached to a national title in 2017, then repeated the feat in Tokyo, where Dawn coached A'ja and Team USA to a podium-topping Games victory.Individually, the pair has an unreal count of hardware and accolades. Some highlights: A'ja is a two-time WNBA champion and six-time WNBA All-Star, and Dawn's racked up three Olympic gold medals as a player to go with her 2021 gold as a coach.In this audio excerpt from our Nike On Air episode with <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K1npueUuGbA&list=PLzCpxgdUI1lb76imfH3bi7k9MdFHVZ3q_&index=24&t=3s&pp=2AEDkAIB" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Womanica</a>, A'ja and Dawn unpack their famous coach-player bond and what it takes to perform on the court.

To hear the full interview with A'ja and Dawn&nbsp;—&nbsp;and learn more about the push-pull of their relationship, how they've overcome adversity and the legacy they want to leave—check out their Womanica podcast on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nike-on-air-creating-a-legacy-with-dawn-staley-and-aja-wilson/id1464524725?i=1000662112482" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Apple</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6NeCQapA2doeXhMGtX6aZW" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K1npueUuGbA&list=PLzCpxgdUI1lb76imfH3bi7k9MdFHVZ3q_&index=24&t=3s&pp=2AEDkAIB" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">YouTube</a> or wherever you get your podcasts.

The duo talk championships, attitudes on the court and leaving their mark on the game.

A'ja Wilson and Dawn Staley on their coach-player bond

Sunny Choi was climbing the corporate ladder when she heard that breaking would be an event at the world's biggest stage in sport. After years of upholding society's standards of what a successful life looks like, the 35-year-old former secondary school gymnast knew she needed to take a chance on finding more joy and fulfilment from a sport built on creative spontaneity.In this audio excerpt from our Nike On Air episode with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8-nMr0ofEg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Womanica</a>, Sunny describes exactly what it feels like to be in the heat of a breaking battle—and why sometimes the best strategy is no strategy at all.

To hear the full interview with Sunny&nbsp;—&nbsp;and learn about breakers' style, how they battle and what kids can get from the sport—check out her Womanica podcast on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/nike-on-air-breaking-new-ground-with-sunny-choi/id1464524725?i=1000661424321" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Apple</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/04LcCHEIM5DH33fRXrePRK" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Spotify</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8-nMr0ofEg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">YouTube</a>&nbsp;or wherever you get your podcasts.﻿

Sometimes the best strategy is no strategy.

How breaker Sunny Choi preps for a battle

Closing hurdling events might be one of the toughest feats in athletics. Elite athletics 400-metre hurdler Anna Cockrell knows. She's been racing the event for most of her life. Her legs burning while sprinting a full lap around the track? Tick. Now throw in 10 hurdles, each raised up to half her body height, spaced evenly to the finishing line. We asked Anna what's running through her mind as she races the event, clearing hurdles both physical and mental.&nbsp;There's not a lot of time for coherent thought in the last 100 metres of the 400-metre hurdles. One, you're trying to run as fast as you can, and two, you're carrying a lot of fatigue to the point of being in pain. Your mantras have to be simple. What I usually tell myself are the words "go" and "clean", as in, keep a clean technique. I have a background in 110-metre hurdles, so I'd like to think that my technique is better than most. You need to keep your technique clean throughout the entirety of the race, which is easier said than done when you're exhausted towards the end. I also count my steps. When we get to hurdle 8 approaching the home stretch, I'm just like, "go, go, go. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10, clean, clean, clean, go, go, go". The same words over and over again, and I count my steps to make sure I'm on rhythm and moving the way I should.&nbsp;

Your training as a hurdler can help you adjust on the fly. Hurdle training differs from sprint training because you do need a good amount of mobility and flexibility. You need to easily and efficiently clear the hurdles. Now, you don't necessarily need to be so flexible that you can bring your leg all the way to your face! But when you get to the end of the race and you start to feel fatigued, you want to have a good range of motion so that you can get out of dangerous situations: if you take a hurdle wrong, if you're too far, too close. Your training prepares you to handle those unexpected challenges.I do hurdle technique drills all the time. Walking with the hurdles, skipping with the hurdles, bringing the hurdles all the way down so you can train at different stride frequencies. For us, the hurdles in the Olympics are at 30 inches (76cm approx.). Sometimes I train with the hurdles at 36 inches (91.5cm approx.) to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. And then I stretch, as simple as it sounds. At this point in the season, your body has been through a lot, it's a little beat up. One of the best way to take care of yourself is to stretch before training and after training.

We ask the athletics 400-metre hurdler how she closes the final stretch of the brutal event.