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.

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.

Running

5 Questions With Nike Running's Coach Bennett

At this year's Hyrox World Championships in Stockholm, Dylan Scott has unfinished business.One of the sport's most ferocious competitors, the former doubles world champion finished third at last year's Championships in Chicago. The Nike athlete, who now has his sights set on the coveted individual title, has competed at every World Championship since entering Hyrox in 2021. Each year, he has finished closer to the top. He arrives in Stockholm intent on finishing the job.&nbsp;That he's here at all is remarkable. At 17, a career-altering injury derailed his dreams of becoming an elite runner and the future he'd always imagined for himself. Years later, after rebuilding both physically and mentally, he discovered Hyrox almost by accident. What followed was a steady rise through the sport's ranks that eventually caught Nike's attention. Last year, another long-held aspiration became a reality when he signed with the brand he'd loved for years.He'll tell you that he's not the fastest or the strongest. But Scott has something that's harder to manufacture: grit.&nbsp;Here, in his own words, he reflects on resilience, identity and what it means to win the right way.

I come from Ninety Six, South Carolina—a town of about 2,000 people—and that place shaped the athlete I became.&nbsp;It's actually a revolutionary war battleground, and a lot of our training was out there at the historical site. I ran so many miles on that cross-country course that I could close my eyes and run it in my head. The secondary school track wasn't even six lanes—it was five and a half, because you got to the back, and half of it fell off a hill. The weights in the weight room were all rusty. It wasn't this pretty thing you get with Hyrox, this production. It was grit.&nbsp;You don't always have access to the best things, the best facilities, but if you put your head down, you can start climbing that ladder. I came from doing workouts with tractor chains in the yard to standing on podiums at world championships. That's pretty cool.When you come from a really small town and ascend to a world stage, it instills humility and gratefulness. You start experiencing all of these things that are so big, with so much grandeur to them, but you know where you came from.

It really broke me down as a person when I lost the ability to run. I got injured right before I turned 18. I spent my entire last year of sixth form either on crutches or in a cast, and at points in a wheelchair. It happened when I was running on a treadmill watching the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/how-steve-prefontaine-set-the-pace-for-nike" target="_blank">Prefontaine</a> movie. My iPod fell, I did a weird shuffle step and within 15 minutes my right foot was completely dead. Until that point, I had almost inextricably tied my entire identity to running. It was my emotional outlet, my social outlet, my sense of who I was. My sense of purpose was stripped away. I had to sit down and ask: "Who am I? What do I like? What else is going to occupy this space?"&nbsp;Over the four- or five-year span of recovering, my understanding of myself as a person grew so much. Looking back, I'm actually really, really thankful. As much pain as the injury caused me emotionally and physically, it created something in me as a person. It changed who I was and my entire perspective on life.Partnering with Nike was a dream I had that I'd almost let die. I'm so happy I didn't give up. The path I'd always imagined—running collegiately, earning it that way—wasn't going to happen after my injury. At some point, you have to look yourself in the mirror and go, "You're not enough at this. You're going to have to pick a different avenue". That fire had really dwindled down to where there was almost nothing left. But for some reason, it didn't completely burn out.When I did performance testing at 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>, I was working with people who could give me insights I couldn't facilitate on my own at home. The things I could find out about my body, my abilities, things I should change. All of that within that building, it's astronomical. It really could be the difference between where I am now and where I need to get to win it all.

I don't just want to be a winner for the sake of being a champion. I was drawn to Nike because of that same spirit. Nike wins. That's what they do. But they want to win the right way.&nbsp;With respect for the sport and my competition, I'm going to be the best I can be. I'm going to compete against the best competition. But I'm not going to race dirty. I'm not going to sh*t-talk you publicly or try to belittle you. I'm going to create an environment around the race where whoever wins won it fair and square, and against the best version of their competition. I want to be a champion where people say, "This guy did it the right way".I've always been willing to go to a dark place in training, but I've learned not to go there too often. A lot of athletes in sports like Hyrox really value the ability to suffer and sometimes test it too much. You keep checking in: "Am I tough enough? Can I hurt enough?" And what tends to happen is you just burn your body out, because there's only so often you can go to that well and actually handle it and recover from it.Still, I've always told myself that when I refuse to go to those places in training anymore, that's when I'll retire. When I'm at the 45-minute point of a workout, knowing that at 55 minutes we're going to enter that spot, I think, This is going to be hell. But today I'm choosing hell, because I still want to be a world champion.

I give a lot of kudos to my wife, Maria, for pushing me to be uncomfortable and not cling to the past. I was working a corporate job and I was afraid to move on from it because of the security it represented. She said, "You can do this. Please take the step". I was making it work before, but there were leaks in the ship. We're in a new boat now. It sails a lot better. Fewer holes.When you're around your kid, you get to rediscover things through their eyes. Having my son, August, has brought so much joy and perspective into my life. He doesn't care if I'm on top of the podium or not, he just yells for Dada, and that's it. Sometimes right before a race, if I'm in a weird emotional state, I'll think, Let me just hold my son for a second. Twenty seconds of a big hug. And then I'm like, All right, we're good, let's go. Sometimes that's all you need.I value effort over almost anything else. Outcomes take care of themselves when you put enough into them. I want my son to see that. He sees fitness as a lifestyle, he travels to races with us. The first beach he ever went to was in France. I want his life to be full of movement and culture, and I want him to see his dad doing it the right way.I never thought I'd be a world champion or even close to that, but as I stacked bricks over time, I kept getting closer. I kept moving up the podium and now I'm at a point where it's like, It wouldn't make sense if you didn't apply yourself, didn't try. You're too close to it. So the mindset has shifted from just doing something and happening to be good at it to committing to and pursuing being a world champion.

The Nike athlete has his sights set on the coveted individual title and knows exactly what will get him on top of the podium: grit.

Training

For the win

Dylan Scott on the Slow, Steady Work of Becoming a Hyrox Champion

It's 2015, and touring Nike's world campus in Beaverton, Oregon, is Kobe Bryant, 6 foot 6 inches of genius basketball talent, and energetically curious about what his partner sports brand is up to in its product innovation spaces. The creator of Mamba Mentality wanders up to Nike teammates at work and asks, "Are you creating that epic sh*t?"That phrase from Kobe has become <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-new-innovation-engine-announcement" target="_blank">the North Star</a> for Nike's EVP and chief innovation, design and product officer, Phil McCartney. It's a call to action, and it spells out a mission as important to him as <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/bill-bowerman-nike-s-original-innovator" target="_blank">Bill Bowerman</a>'s mandate that the company should make athletes* better. "We've got the authenticity of Bowerman in the roots of the company, plus the athlete irreverence from Kobe, so put that together and it becomes a standard of excellence", says McCartney. It's the way he measures products: is it epic? Does it make athletes better? "If it doesn't, then we shouldn't do it".

Before McCartney came into his role in June 2025, Nike had no shortage of ideas and sport-science research. What it needed was focus, the muscle memory to turn its athlete insights, science-backed data and design and product ideas into intentional, sharper, more epic swings. A little chutzpah couldn't hurt either. "I wanted us to get our swagger back, to be more responsive, have a competitive spirit and an athlete's mindset about the work", says McCartney.A clear strategy, ruthless prioritisation and licence to dream came through in short order. Last September, the Innovation team organised as "IDP"—Innovation, Design, Product—an acronym that McCartney says belies the creation process: before his team does anything, they have to innovate,&nbsp;then&nbsp;design, and the product is the outcome. At the same time, the company launched its <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/amy-montagne-the-force-returning-nike-to-sport" target="_blank">Sport Offense</a>—organising teams enterprise-wide by sport to better serve the athlete. His two immediate goals in his role: connect <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/meet-the-nike-mind-team" target="_blank">product back to science</a>, taking advantage of the company's ability to scrutinise and study like no one else, and shore it up with the art of athleticism. And build a deeper, holistic approach to innovating that better connects teams across NIKE, Inc., creating one engine that accelerates product creation.

McCartney says he's at his happiest in creative spaces on campus—the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/inside-the-serena-williams-building" target="_blank">Serena Williams Building</a>, the Michael Jordan Building, the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/inside-the-nike-sports-research-lab-lebron-james-innovation-center" target="_blank">LeBron James Innovation Center</a> and Converse spaces, and the Bowerman Footwear Lab, where he says teams create magic every day. This 8,361-square-metre space tucked inside the campus's Mia Hamm Building is an imagination machine for sneaker creation. Amidst heaps of colourful bolts of fabric and foot lasts, McCartney is like a kid at Disneyland, grinning at the technological abilities at the company's fingertips. "This footwear lab changes how people think about creating product and designing—it's&nbsp;our test kitchen", explains McCartney, emphasising that&nbsp;this&nbsp;is the space where you're reminded that Nike is a product company serving athletes through new solutions. One of the most exciting parts of the space to McCartney is its real-time prototyping capabilities and the ability to tinker with a product idea for an athlete <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/how-nike-built-its-world-headquarters" target="_blank">visiting campus</a>, then instantly modify the proto based on their feedback.That innovator's spirit goes hand in hand with another classic Nike strategy: get out into the communities and know your people. "I want us to go grassroots again, to operate a hyperlocal model and be so connected with the athletes that we can anticipate their next need", says McCartney. Sitting in his fifth-floor office in the Sebastian Coe Building, he pulls out his computer and flashes up a deck that goes deep on his innovation teams' three major product focuses for Nike's next fiscal year. You can see, he explains, how these three product constructs can be adapted by region, by sport and by athlete. The tight line-up didn't start this way, he adds. Winnowing down the most innovative products to these three constructs took months of killing good ideas in favour of great ones, then punching those up to be epic.One step to making this a reality, says McCartney, is to bring key partners along. He's fresh off a two-week trip to Asia, where he says he worked directly with factory owners he's known for 20 years. "We walked through the steps to accelerate my teams' ideas from concept to final product faster and more efficiently", he says. "This is an essential part of revving our innovation engine and solving challenges in real time".

Like everyone else he knew growing up, McCartney wanted to be a footballer. The sport was the lifeblood of Newcastle, the city in northern England where he was raised. Football was also one of the clearest paths out of the working-class town, a place where most people left secondary school after 16 to start earning money. University was something that other people did, and opportunities elsewhere, like the US, seemed about as close as the moon. So, along with the rest of the boys he knew, McCartney joined his school football team, shoring up dreams of kicking his way into the Premier League.After his first few uninspiring games, his dad suggested he try something else. This was young Phil's first lesson in editing and prioritising, walking away from an OK idea for a better one. McCartney tried a running club, set up by local parents to keep their kids out of trouble. The families operated on a tight budget—his&nbsp;father installed drywall and his mother worked in youth community building—and the rule within the club was that once you outgrew your trainers, you passed them down to a younger kid. McCartney was soon in possession of a pair of bright orange-red sneakers, replete with a yellow Swoosh as electric as lightening. "Imagine getting that as an 11-year-old kid", he says. He loved them so much, he slept in them. "I had no idea what Nike was, didn't know it was American, never even heard of Oregon". But he knew how the shoes made him feel: invincible, strong, fast, capable.&nbsp;The first race he ever won—1,500 metres on the track—was in Nikes.He punctuates this story by pulling out a pair of those exact Nike Flame spikes on a January morning in Glo's Cafe at the base of the LeBron James Innovation Building on Nike's <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/how-nike-built-its-world-headquarters" target="_blank">Philip H. Knight Campus</a>. (These aren't the same shoes he had as a youth, but rather a pair he tracked down later on.) They're more than just leather and suede: the shoes are a reminder of his duality—who he is and who he's been—and what has kept him going. The kid who filled his hours doodling sneakers; the teen who started working in retail to help support his family; the young man who applied for his dream job at Nike, becoming a Nike EKIN (because these experts are supposed to know the brand's products backwards and forwards); and now, the leader who sets its strategy for innovation, design and product.McCartney knows persistence, intelligence and hard work brought him to where he is today, but for years, he says, he couldn't help feelings of imposter syndrome, of thinking he was still that working-class kid from middle-of-nowhere-England pretending to be just as sophisticated as everyone else. To this day, he says, those feelings can creep in on him. "I'm proud of where I'm from, but there is just such a huge gap from where I was to where I am", says McCartney. That fact makes it all the more important, he adds, to show his teams that they can be their authentic selves. "I want our people of all backgrounds to feel comfortable here", he says, adding, "it's hard to be creative if you're trying to be someone else at the same time".McCartney credits some of this managerial approach to Vincent Coates, a senior director, footwear product development lead, for football, who taught him that a great leader provides an environment for people to feel empowered. And Coates confirms that McCartney's earned that: "I'd walk through a brick wall for Phil", he says, calling him a leader who is as much at home leading an off-site to discuss footwear as he is bringing the levity to diffuse the day-to-day pressure—like when he donned an Elvis outfit and sang Suspicious Minds to lighten the team mood (that story is fact-checked and confirmed). Coates says the company's return to being a player in the football market came from strategies like McCartney's insistence on bringing siloed teams together. Before he took the role, Innovation sat separately from the Product and Marketing teams. Now, they're all connected and pulling towards the same focused goals. "Phil's created a greater team and this culture of belonging, inclusivity and fun", says Coates. "Yes, we have challenges. But now, because we're figuring things out together, it's an enjoyable journey. That's the impact he has on people—he makes you want to be all in".

Since childhood, sport has taken McCartney on some of the pivotal journeys of his life. Races gave him his first taste of exploring different parts of his home country and mixing with different people. With sport, "the world gets bigger and bigger", he says. And because of his long-held dedication to running, he brings a particular empathy to his work and the plight of the athlete. He knows what it's like to push yourself beyond what you think you could possibly do, to compete against yourself, to wake up at 5am for a run, because that's what he's trained his mind and body to do. It's a viewpoint he cherishes in his job, and one that athletes cherish within him. McCartney and legendary marathoner and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/eliud-kipchoge-radical-airflow-new-york-city-marathon" target="_blank">Nike athlete Eliud Kipchoge</a> have been friends for more than a decade, and the record-breaking runner says that he and McCartney talk about everything: innovation, trail shoes, blisters, their families, the future of the company. Kipchoge loves that they can do that while on a run. "It feels great for me to talk to someone who was an athlete himself, who is working with Nike and&nbsp;is among the decision-makers", says Kipchoge.Listening to athletes is not only one of the most inspiring and motivating parts of the job, McCartney says, but a key to making it all work. "The biggest thing in innovation is to take a chance with the athletes and whatever ideas they might have", he says, citing <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/six-reasons-why-breaking2-goes-beyond-26-2-miles" target="_blank">Breaking2</a>, the 2017 project that ultimately helped Kipchoge <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/10-greatest-nike-air-sports-moments" target="_blank">complete a marathon in under two hours</a>. "It leads to huge advancements in sport, human potential and technology, and we need those moments just to think differently and bigger".

Like Nike athletes, McCartney wants his team to be bold in their approach to innovation and creativity. He knows, though, that it all starts with him as a leader: "I'm always balancing care with competitiveness", he says. "We've got to win. So how do you create the conditions to do that?" His role isn't just to execute or delegate; he also wants to create the right conditions for people to do their best work. "We don't need people to be told what to do; we have loads of incredibly talented people", he says. "What they need is direction, trust and the air cover to go after something big".While McCartney may still be a bit incredulous about leaving Newcastle, when he visits home, he likes to talk to the local kids about his journey: that you can go from being a young runner propelled by the potential in your soles to the executive who guides their production. And not only the sport science that helped create them, but the look, the feeling and the heat&nbsp;that make a new generation of kids wear those shoes to bed at night.That's the standard the company's embracing again under McCartney's guidance—in the lab, in athlete conversations, in the prototype, in the edit, in the final product. Nothing less than epic sh*t.

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

Chief Innovation, Design and Product Officer Phil McCartney knows what the bar is when it comes to innovation at the Swoosh. This is how he's making sure the company's products clear it.

Feature

What Creating Epic Means Inside Nike Now

On an early Wednesday morning in February, Amy Montagne stands in front of a small production team in the Serena Williams Building on Philip H. Knight Campus in Beaverton, Oregon. The president of Nike has a presence—commanding, assured and dressed in hues of black; she stands on a makeshift stage while the crew adjusts the lights. Whether or not the camera's recording, Montagne is on—personable, assertive and ready to go—despite waking up well before sunrise. She says the energy and passion it takes to do that day after day, week after week, comes from the shared dedication of the teammates surrounding her during her more than two decades with the company: "Bringing my A-game is critical to my role, because I want to rise to the level of the people around me".Montagne is filming a message for the global Nike team meeting in Milan, a thank you to the tens of thousands of worldwide employees for the hard work leading up to the winter's major sporting moments—the Super Bowl, All-Star Weekend, the Winter Olympics—and a rallying cry for the hard work everyone knows is still ahead. After her first read-through under the lights, a make-up artist dabs her face with a sponge while she listens to feedback. Her delivery (only two takes!) earns applause, and she laughs. "This is not a normal day", she promises.But when a day in the life of the president of the world's largest sports brand can encompass anything from lunching with premier athletes to leading meetings on global sport brand strategy to snapping a pic with Kim Kardashian for her Instagram grid during the NikeSKIMS launch in New York (this one jackpotted Montagne cool points with her triplet teenage sons), maybe the normalcy is found in accepting that every day will be different. And that's exactly what she loves about it: "Each day, you get new information: people loved a certain product drop, a new sport campaign resonated with a specific community, an athlete's authentic style led to a whole-new way of dressing to compete—the energy of that immediate response from people who love Nike is what inspires me", she says. The question that she has asked herself to guide each unique day, over her two decades at the company, remains the same: "How do we lead our teammates and this brand to greatness?"

When Elliott Hill accepted the NIKE, Inc. president & CEO position in 2024, bringing the company back to its sport roots and focusing on the athlete was at the top of his to-do list. Nike needed a turnaround. After years of dominance, the brand was no longer the untouchable giant in the sports industry, and upstart brands were clawing away at the Swoosh market share. Nike's once-clear mandate to be steeped in sport, by listening and serving the athlete, had turned murky. Finding a visionary leader to drive a vigorous reestablishment of the brand's credo was key, and the path to that had to be through strengthening the relationship with athletes (and that means Nike's definition of "athletes"—anyone who has a body).Hill needed a trusted leader for the Nike brand who could lead its new Sport Offense, a plan that rebuilt the company and its priorities through sport, allowing teams to go deep on what those specific athletes need. This right-hand leader would not only need a mind for end-to-end strategy, a commitment to innovation and an adroitness for emotional storytelling, but also be someone who could use those skills to make deliberate choices to strengthen the business for the long term, activating Nike's many levers to connect with athletes, sport communities and fans across the world. Hill had a clear choice: Amy Montagne.Over her 12 roles and 21 years at the company, Montagne had established herself as a healthy balance of left and right brain—an outside-the-box thinker who also uses "spreadsheet" as a verb—and was a motivating force behind Nike's new sport-first operating model. "She always asks, 'how is this connected back to sport, back to the athletes?'" Hill says, outlining her strategic filter. That comes from her unwavering dedication to the benefits of sport that go beyond playing: in high school, for example, Montagne tried out for the basketball team but didn't make the cut. Instead of walking away, she doubled down and became the team's statistician, a role that encapsulated her talent, her secret sauce: she can see the whole court, identify people's unique abilities and skill sets and use that data to help make the whole team better.

Montagne is a straight shooter, with the sort of no-filler management style that makes it clear what she's thinking. If she works with you, she believes in you. And she's the first to admit that she expects big things. But she knows that success is only achieved by pushing past what you think are your limits, and as a team. Charles Williams, global vice president of Footwear, wasn't remotely surprised when Montagne became the president of the Nike brand. For years, he'd known her as a "courageous, empowering" leader, one who was just as likely to come and meet Williams in his office as he was in hers. It's a small gesture with a big ripple effect. Not only does it show respect for his time, Williams says, but it's an opportunity for more junior employees to get a bit of face time with her. Hill likens her to a coach and notes how many relationships she's fostered during her time at Nike. "Because of Amy's level of clarity and accountability, she builds trust with the team, and then you get the followership", he says.Once, Montagne received feedback from her team that, while she has extremely high expectations, they knew that she has those same high bars for herself, above all. "It was one of those moments where I felt really seen for who I am", she says. And that approach has resulted in a genuine loyalty between Montagne and her teams—she gives people the tools, guidance and space to be great, and in return, they are.&nbsp;

Nike's winning history is never far from Montagne's mind: it excites her that everyone around her knows they have big, and well-made, shoes to fill. "Every product, every story we tell, every marketplace execution has to be done with uncompromising excellence", she says. How does she make that happen? By asking honest questions: is the product living up to our expectations, what we know this company is capable of? Is that the best way to tell the story? Is the execution the most premium, sustainable way we can do it? Did we give it absolutely everything?If that philosophy sounds almost unbelievably driven, well, that's on purpose. And it's what makes her ideal for the job. "Amy's the leader Nike needs right now", says Hill, "and I believe the structure we have in place, the team she's put in place, the expectation that she set, is going to give us that sharp clarity against the different consumers we're serving, and that will unlock another wave of growth".

Only recently has Montagne allowed herself—her full self—to be seen in the workplace. Early on in her career, working at the corporate headquarters for The Gap, in San Francisco, she was known for leaving her personal life at the door. Work was work, home was home, and never the two shall meet. "She has a strength to compartmentalise things to be able to move through adversity", says Janet Hayes, her former coworker, long-time friend and current CEO of Crate & Barrel. But that also meant that people had a harder time getting to know her. "I'm watching her now, in the last couple of years, become a different kind of leader who is braver and a little more vulnerable, and I think that's an evolution of her leadership that's going to take her far", Hayes says.&nbsp;For Montagne, the shared trauma of the pandemic illuminated a new managerial approach. For the first time in her career, everyone she knew was going through the same struggle. There was no reason to pretend it wasn't happening, so why not face it head on? The comfort that came with that allowed her to bring more of her personal life into the workplace. Not as a proselytiser, but as a person. "I am who I am because of the life experiences I've had", she says. Having kids later in life, going through a difficult IVF journey, having triplets when she thought she was having a single child and being all too familiar with grief and family loss—these&nbsp;are truths as integral to understanding Montagne as her management style or work habits. "We all have these things, and you find the right ways to bring your personal and professional lives together", she says, "to be your true, authentic self and to support people to be theirs".Seeing a leader like Montagne be vulnerable and sincere in the workplace has allowed others to do the same. "She's a real one", says Williams. "You need that in this organisation, because it shows people they can be themselves".

Montagne's true self at Nike is pure energy; she has a palpable enthusiasm for the job, a humming aura around her. Her role today is a culmination of a steady focus throughout her career, starting from what drove her when she was working in retail in high school in Arizona—a curiosity about the consumer. Even then, she was fascinated by buying habits: what do people like? Why do they buy the things they do? How do fit, colour and style make a difference? That desire for understanding makes just as much sense for Montagne now as it did back then. "In a big company, driving billions of dollars of revenue, everything gets clear when you come back to a consumer and their insights", she says. "Nike can seem so big, but in the end, we're shop owners".&nbsp;As an undergrad at Santa Clara University, she enrolled in the retail management institute, where that curiosity became a tenable career path: this was an actual job, being a buyer for a store. "And that was it!" she says. Her path unfurled before her, like a finger before it beckons. She graduated with a degree in communications, sharpening the storytelling skills that now drive Nike's most simple and powerful message: that sport can change the world. That's a fact Montagne's seen time and time again, be it watching her kids commit to and improve at a new skill, or being part of grand moments, like the Super Bowl or World Cup. "In a world today that has so much challenge and change, sport is the unifier that really brings people together", Montagne says.

After graduation, she completed buyer training at Walmart headquarters and took a role as an allocation analyst at Gap Inc., capping off 11-hour days by running across the Golden Gate Bridge, training for marathons with friends. Her sport of choice has changed—now, you're more likely to find her in a Pilates studio or a cycling class—but her tenacity and strive for excellence is the same. Her husband, Pete, formerly a category manager at Nike, calls her the hardest worker he's ever met. (Their pairing was a matter of fate; although they attended the same college, they didn't meet until after graduating, when Pete was working at Nike and Amy had just started.) More than anything, Pete says, Amy is smart, sharp and prepared. That hasn't always come easily, though; she's had her fair share of shoot-down remarks, plenty of times where she's been the only woman in the room, he says. "What she does that sets her apart is create a culture of inclusivity—she cares about her team, about mentorship, about elevating people's careers".

Her passion and commitment to championing women is well represented in her office, on the 5th floor of the Sebastian Coe Building, where an oversized copy of the company's 1996 print ad "If You Let Me Play" sits on her desk. Working with top athletes, like A'ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark and JuJu Watkins, is one of the most fulfilling parts of her job, which includes "doing everything I can to show them support—that we want to learn, listen and meet them where they are, and keep doing that as they succeed", she says. The bar isn't what the world expects Nike to do. "It's giving so much more than that", she says, "what we know our athletes deserve".When Montagne took over her current role in May 2025, she and her team went on a retreat to hammer out a clear vision for the Nike brand. The company will always be about sport, they contended—but the evolution had to come from following the lead of the Nike athlete. "They don't compete just to be like anybody else", she says. "They say: 'I can do it better, faster, stronger, more stylish'. They break things to be better—and that's what we're meant to do, too".

For Montagne, that means taking her vision of the Nike Sport Offense—establishing more than a dozen specific sport focuses and creating the teams that power them—and nurturing those sport cultures, from running and football and basketball, to golf, tennis, training and more. Each of these has its own personality, energy and nuances, and essential for Nike, its own aesthetic. For example, the look of running, Montagne says, is style, for everyday and professional athletes alike. She points to Sha'Carri Richardson, who doesn't run fast and break records in spite of her long nails or false lashes—she does so because of them, how they allow her to be her authentic self. Show up as the most real version of you, Montagne says, and you perform at your best. That's a tenet that stretches across sports. "Look at the relaunch of the ACG brand at the Winter Games", she points out. "The brand has legitimate outdoor legacy and innovation, and products that speak to an epic, unique style".As our interview ends, Montagne is in her 5th-floor office, seated at her desk and turning to the next events of the day—meetings, presentations, preparations. You can see her mind whirring, just like that high-school statistician. The court is bigger, but her diligence has remained the same: she's surveying, watching her teams' plays and noting what must happen next to make everyone, and the brand, better. The through line, to be sure, will be sport. To know where Nike is going next, look to where the energy is in the world behind sports, behind athletes. Wherever you find that, you’ll find Nike, supporting, listening, learning—and fiercely competing like no other.

With more than 20 years of experience over 12 roles, the brand president is guiding Nike's new Sport Offense, taking the company back to its athlete-first roots and strengthening the business for the long term.

Amy Montagne: The Force Returning Nike to Sport

By the time Alysa Liu reaches the end of her four-minute free skate, the energy inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena is unmistakable. With the final notes of Donna Summer's MacArthur Park Suite echoing through the building, Alysa joyfully finishes her programme, tossing a playful hair flip towards the camera. The crowd erupts. Seven triple jumps. Zero mistakes. The 20-year-old Team USA figure skater, clad in a shimmering gold dress, has just delivered the performance of her life. Moments later, the scores confirm it: Alysa has won Olympic gold, becoming the first US woman in nearly a quarter of a century to claim the sport's biggest prize.For Alysa, the Milano Cortina victory is the culmination of one of figure skating's most unexpected journeys. The youngest US national champion at 13, she walked away from the sport as a teenager, drained by the pressures of elite competition. Yet nearly two years later, she returned with a different perspective: if she was going to skate again, it would be on her terms. Because she loved it. And if she won, it would be as herself—not as someone else's version of what a champion should be.That mindset has helped turn Alysa into one of the sport's most intriguing athletes, someone who is redefining what winning can look like. Below, in her own words, she shares how she thinks about pressure, success and learning to trust her own path.

Success can mean a lot of different things to different people. For me, it's about being with the people I love, making memories with them and spending time together. It's about having new experiences and just living. The mantra I keep coming back to is YOLO. It's cliché—but you really only live once. So you have to make the most of it for yourself.These days, I say no to more things that I used to say yes to. I like to hear people out and I like to try new things, but I trust my instincts. When I came back to figure skating, people said I would have to change my hair, and I said, "No, I won't be changing my hair". People give me song suggestions, and I'll take them into consideration, but if I don't like something, I'm not going to skate to it. I want to make choices that feel like me.My advice for kids or anyone feeling a lot of pressure is to stop and ask who or where it's actually coming from. It's easy to feel like there are so many expectations on you, but when you really think about it, who's the one putting that pressure on you? It's usually not that many people. For me, journalling and identifying where that feeling is originating from really helps. Sometimes when you narrow it down, you realise it's coming from one specific person, or maybe no one at all.

It's important to surround yourself with the right people. You've got to have people around you who have your best interests in mind. People you care about and that care about you. I've been fortunate to build a team that really knows what I want. They give me the space to make my own choices. I get the final say for everything—my programmes, my music, the dress, the hair, the make-up. They respect my artistic choices, and that makes a huge difference.&nbsp;Sometimes you can forget why you started in the first place. If something is feeling too hard mentally or physically, take a break and try other things. Step away, reassess and see if it pulls you back in. If it does, great. And if it doesn't, then maybe you're being pulled toward something completely new.At the end of my programmes, I always try to do something for the cameras. The camera is right there on your face when you finish skating, so you've got to do something. A hair flip is just what I go to. We don't have much screen time when we're out there, so you have to make the most of it.

When it comes to training, I'm pretty self-disciplined. I like to train, actually. That's my favourite part about being an athlete. I really romanticise it now. No one has to tell me when to stop. I know myself really well, so I know what my limit is. And that comes from a lot of trial and error.My favourite way to reset is just turning my phone off. Usually my phone is what overwhelms me the most. So when I feel like that, I turn it off and spend time with my friends and family.At the end of the day, if it's not a "hell yes", it's a "hell no". When it comes to activities or opportunities, that's how I think about it now. I still say yes to a lot of things, but I'm more intentional about it. I don't really have regrets. You live and you learn. A big part of getting to that was learning to stop shutting down my own feelings and needs and no longer putting certain people on a pedestal.To feel free again, I had to unlearn routine. I was kind of stuck in the same day over and over again. But if you want a different life, you have to make different choices. I had to switch my inputs to have a different output.

The gold medal–winning figure skater—and sport icon for authenticity—reflects on pressure, success and learning to trust her own path.

Alysa Liu Is Winning on Her Own Terms

There is a moment Martin Lotti still sees clearly in his mind. He was 16 years old, a Swiss exchange student standing in the original Niketown in Portland, Oregon —a kid from Fribourg, a town of fewer than 40,000 people, who had arrived in the Pacific Northwest for what was supposed to be two weeks and became a year. He left Niketown holding a pair of Air Max 180s and a Michael Jordan Wings poster, the one that reads:&nbsp;"No bird soars too high if it soars with its own wings".&nbsp;His host family snapped a photo of him outside the store, mid-Jumpman pose, arms wide, grinning.That photograph would travel with him across two decades of craft, curiosity and creative ambition. And one day, while serving as chief design officer for the Jordan Brand, Lotti stood in front of Michael Jordan himself and showed him the image."This is why I fell in love with the brand as a 16 year old",&nbsp;he says, sitting at the Philip H. Knight Campus on a cool February morning, dressed in an immaculate all-white fit that reflects an understated confidence.&nbsp;"To have the person from the poster over your bed actually standing in front of you—that was surreal. One of those moments where you think: how did I get here?"

Getting to Nike was never a straight line—and that, Lotti will tell you, is exactly the point. After finishing secondary school in Switzerland, he enrolled at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. A woman in his visual communications class mentioned she'd interned at Nike, which piqued his curiosity. He sent in an application, Nike sent back a job offer. He would later marry that classmate, Linda Mai-Lotti, a detail he shares with a quiet smile that suggests he still can't quite believe his own story.What Nike represented to Lotti, and still does, was something he didn't have a word for growing up in Europe.&nbsp;"In Switzerland, it's more step by step,"&nbsp;he says.&nbsp;"The leash gets longer one step at a time. Whereas in the US, the opportunity is just … there for the taking. It doesn't matter how old you are or where you're from. If you can bring it, you get the chance to design it".That belief—that potential has no ceiling—became the foundation of how Lotti designs, leads and sees the world.

Today, Lotti serves as Nike's chief design officer, representing the Swoosh in major cultural moments such as Milan Design Week, and overseeing product and concept design across the company—an enormous responsibility he approaches with the same grounded clarity that has defined his career. A good designer is a good listener first, he says, because creation is so reliant on input, from the athletes, of data sets, for how to support the product with the right storytelling. The why of your creation—who you're creating for and what problem you're solving—is what delineates a designer from an artist. "Design is not just executing or sketching; we are problem solvers", Lotti says. "<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/bill-bowerman-nike-s-original-innovator" target="null">Bill Bowerman</a> baked this into the DNA of the company: you create for a reason, not just because you can". He also points out that this is no simple task. "Creativity is often romanticised. It's painful! I think it's like a marathon. It takes time, you have to lean in, and in the end you're exhausted and elated".The drive to continue that process runs deep within Lotti. There is a phrase he returns to again and again, a quiet north star beneath everything he creates:&nbsp;making people fly.&nbsp;He didn't fully understand its weight until his team began working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and he watched critically ill children choose, as their wish, to spend time with Jordan Brand designers."Not everyone can be Michael Jordan, but everyone can make someone feel something", he says, his voice measured, the words deliberate.&nbsp;"After something like that, you don't come in the next day and just make another shoe".He invokes Steve Jobs' idea of leaving a dent in the universe—of finding your platform and using it with intention.&nbsp;"We have this reach, and I don't take it for granted",&nbsp;he says.&nbsp;"It's not just an opportunity. It's an obligation to make an impact". That impact is felt within Nike too. "There's no one who pushes me more than Martin", says <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/company/people/nicole-graham" target="_blank">Nicole Graham</a>, EVP and chief marketing officer. "He's so good that it makes you want to be better; he'll come up with a great idea, which will make you want to come up with a great idea". That mindset, says Graham, comes from the way Lotti looks at the world. "He can walk down the street and see 18 different things that could be interesting for a project that we're working on—colour, material, font, topography. He lives and breathes creativity and design".

Lotti's design philosophy goes beyond aesthetics or function. He wants his teams to truly understand athletes—not just what they need from a product, but what drives them, what they carry onto the field, what makes them feel seen and inspired.In 2014, a Brazilian footballer described his&nbsp;why&nbsp;to Lotti's team:&nbsp;"We play for the love of the game and for the love of Brazil",&nbsp;the player said, grabbing his shirt as he spoke. The gesture unlocked something. The shirt wasn't just a piece of clothing; it was a symbol of pride, an encapsulation of purpose.That year, the team printed in Portuguese&nbsp;"nascido para jogar futebol"—born&nbsp;to play football—on the inside of the shirt. So that every time a player placed his hand over his heart during the national anthem, he'd feel the purpose beneath it."You aren't just listening to what athletes say about what they need",&nbsp;Lotti says.&nbsp;"You want to hear the person. You want to understand what makes them tick".Sometimes, Lotti and his team's inspiration is more abstract. It surfaces in the raked gravel of a Zen garden in Kyoto, Japan, which became the outsole geometry of the Nike Kyoto, the brand's first yoga-inspired shoe, its upper a subtle nod to the kimono's wrap. Or it can live in the stark, earthy palette of Iceland, which shaped an autumn and holiday training collection.This is one of the quiet gifts of being based in Portland, he says. You're required to go out, seek, learn. "We're more global citizens, which I love, because so many doors open up when you go to new places".

His wife Linda describes Lotti as an athlete—not just literally (he competed and taught snowboarding), but in the way he approaches his craft. When their professor in school assigned 10 sketches, Martin did 20. Not because he had to, but because the work was alive to him, and the push to keep refining it would never rest. Curiosity, for Lotti, isn't something you switch off.That energy surfaces everywhere. A recent trip to a car dealership ended with a salesperson offering him a job, only half-jokingly. He'd arrived knowing more about every model and option than the staff.&nbsp;"He's able to stay focused and keep working until he ploughs through it and finds the solution",&nbsp;Linda says.&nbsp;"Like an elite athlete with a relentless drive to grow and perfect. Just in a very different arena".We're sitting in the Energy Product Design space in the Mia Hamm building, and Lotti is flipping through the pages of the Nike Design Annual, a thick-stock magazine containing a sweeping overview of the best that the Nike brand has done in the past year, through a range of sport, athlete and product moments. "We're so focused on the future, being able to look back is almost cathartic, and it allows us to set a benchmark: if you want to be in this book, it has to be a certain level", Lotti says. "It's a way to celebrate the team".The team Lotti's gathered, says Graham, is unmatched. "One of Martin's most meaningful contributions to Nike is the creative community he's nurtured", she says. "When you're on Martin Lotti's team, you feel like you're one of the most creative people in the world—and that's exactly what he wants you to feel, how he's empowered people to feel". You see the impact of that in this year's Nike Design Annual, which includes 25 of the most innovative pieces the company produced in 2025. Many are feats of the unexpected, breaking the mould—like the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/what-is-nike-radical-airflow" target="null">Nike Radical AirFlow</a> long-sleeve for ultra-marathons. People were sceptical at first of the long-sleeve shirt meant to cool you down, says Lotti, with some even affectionately dubbing it the "Christmas sweater". Lotti laughs about it even now. "Believing is wearing it", he says, "it's like air conditioning for your body. You pump your arms while you run, and the material creates little cyclones of airflow. That's its geometry—it's naturally cooling".

Throughout our conversation, Lotti emphasised the uniqueness of working on design at a company like Nike: the cutting-edge technology, like the nascent ability to create prototypes from 3D printers or virtual mock-ups; the eye toward sustainability, shown in&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-aero-fit-official-images" target="null">the new base material, Aero-FIT</a>, for&nbsp;<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="null">all football shirts</a> that are more breathable for athletes&nbsp;and&nbsp;have a lower environmental impact to create; the&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/meet-the-nike-mind-team" target="null">Mind Science team</a>, which focuses on improving athlete experience from the neck up.This depth and range creates the perfect balance of humanness, enterprise and technology that Lotti seeks. That even the executive chairman, Mark Parker, shares Lotti's design background makes Lotti's work all the more fulfilling. "It makes our life so much easier to see design as part of the foundation of the company", he says, dancing his fingertips over the tabletop. "It's not an afterthought. It's central to everything we do".That belief extends to how Lotti thinks about risk—not as something to manage, but as something to embrace, to push Nike to new places. "Calculated risk is what athletes do every day", he says. "They don't try to replicate their fastest time or most powerful serve or heaviest weight, they want to be better. The best".Why shouldn't we all?

"Design is not just executing or sketching", says the chief design officer. "We are problem solvers".

Martin Lotti is Driving a New Wave of Creativity at Nike

After winning 73 singles titles, 14 doubles titles, four Olympic gold medals and reigning as the No. 1 women's singles tennis player in the world for a collective six years, Serena Williams decided she was ready for a new challenge. In 2022, she announced that she was "evolving away" from tennis, playing her final match at the US Open that September against Ajla Tomljanovic. A retirement this was not: by that point, Serena Ventures, her venture capital firm, had raised more than $100 million dollars for start-ups focused on female and POC consumers, and she wanted to devote more time to growing that work even more. She was also 40, wanted another child and knew that she didn't want to be pregnant and competing again. (She had her first child, Olympia, in 2017, eight months after she won the Australian Open, her 23rd Grand Slam, while eight weeks pregnant; she didn't drop a single set.) Throughout her farewell tour, reporters and fans asked if she'd ever come back. She didn't say no. Now four years, and another daughter, Adira, later, the Nike athlete since 2003 is back on court. Her return competition is fitting—the Queen's Club tournament in London—where she'll play doubles. Tennis has evolved since Williams took her pause, but then again, so has she. Below, in her own words, Williams shares her new outlook, why it's important for her daughters to see her return and why she's always believed in herself.

This return is not about wins or losses. I just want to have fun. I want to travel and I want to enjoy myself. I've always enjoyed tennis, but this time it's from a different angle. Every time I watched a tournament, I missed it. I miss the atmosphere. I miss the court.&nbsp; Still, what I'm looking for in a doubles partner is someone that wants to win and can win. I guess that hasn't changed! I'm choosing doubles because I'm not putting any pressure on myself to do singles right now. This is a good way to start for me.&nbsp; The only different thing in my training now is that I don't get angry. Although, yesterday, I did want to crack my racket. But I thought, 'Serena, you're absolutely not going to do that'. In the past, I would have. This moment is for my daughters too. I want them to see what a strong woman I am, who I am. Now, they'll be able to see what I do and the impact that I've had. There are so many different things that define excellence. But a lot of people don't understand the full work. We see lots of results that are really fast, things that seem like they happened overnight. But there's always some sort of sacrifice. To gain something, you have to not have something. You have to decide what it is. And sometimes, it's at a cost. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Pressure can feel very heavy, but lighter if you step up to it and own it. There's this old saying, "He who doubts, loses". Doubt is for those who don't want to win. You can't doubt yourself. I work very hard, but I also know I'm at a different stage in my life, so I learn how to get more bang for my buck without sacrificing my hard work.

When I first started playing tennis, I had to fight to just belong. As a woman, you have to fight to show what you have done, and what you can do. And not necessarily fight, but "calmly and confidently remind". When you're sure of yourself, it's OK to walk away and say, "This isn't for me right now". I'm very fortunate that now I get to pick and choose the battles that I decide to fight. Some of those battles are great, especially if they involve my children, but other battles end with me saying, "You know what? Not my day today". To stay on top, you have to welcome change. You have to pivot. Take learning AI, for example—I pivoted instantly. I don't wait, I don't think, I just do. That's how I've always been. Especially with my career, I've always thought, oh, Roger's doing that? I'm pivoting immediately. That's why I had the ability to play for so many years, I was always open to change. I changed my racket and my strings at a time where no one was doing it, and people thought that was really crazy. It was unheard of at the time. I did it, and then suddenly everyone else did it. My partnership with Nike is all about building and creating new. I can see Nike's got back to <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/the-handshake-that-started-it-all" target="_blank">those roots of Phil</a>, starting each idea with "<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/phil-mccartney-is-showing-what-innovation-means-inside-nike-now" target="_blank">how do we help athletes</a>". I love what's happening in <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nikeskims-introduces-studio-stretch-material-innovation-collection" target="_blank">NikeSKIMS</a>. It embodies innovation. When I first saw that, I called Kim and said, "This is genius". I have always believed in myself. Other people believing in you is fantastic, but let's face it, that doesn't always happen. And there's a lot of times where people will say things that make you not believe in yourself. Having your self-belief is so important. Then, it doesn't matter what happens—it won't change your foundation. It doesn't mean you self-believe in everything, because, quite frankly, I don't. I always have to go to my foundation and say, "This is what I'm great at, this is what I'm good at—now let's build on it".&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

The tennis champion has a new outlook, an important "why", and a belief in herself that's never gone away.

In Her Return to the Court, Serena Williams Reminds Us Why She's the GOAT

See What Drives Us

Stories from inside NIKE, Inc.

Story Landing

3-Minute Portrait

The shoulders on which Brazilian football history rests are saved for a few select names, nicknames and shorthand marks. Count Nike athlete Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, O Fenômeno, R9 himself, in that elite group.&nbsp;Retired from the game since 2011, R9 sees his place among Brazil's football stars on a continuum, not a list of power rankings. He followed in the footsteps of national legends like Pele and he's intentionally positioned his own post-professional career to help set the course for the next generation of stars, like 24-year-old striker Vini Jr.&nbsp;R9 has become the national hero he once idolised. Doing so gracefully, with his playing days behind him, has instilled in him a careful self-awareness, offering lessons to anyone who's watching a younger generation take the stage.&nbsp;For example, R9 understands firsthand that every move he makes, however minor, is likely to be under the watchful eye of a young fan dreaming of one day reaching pro status. Growing up as a young footballer, one of R9's idols was the Brazilian Zico—or Arthur Antunes Coimbra—an attacking midfielder whose playmaking put him on the global map throughout the late '70s and '80s.&nbsp;"I was crazy about him", says R9. "I watched him play every match, watched every interview. There was one interview where he explained how he trained to kick with his left foot. He picked a spot on the wall and kicked it with his left foot hundreds of times. I saw that and immediately went outside and started kicking 100, 150 shots against the wall with my left foot".That starstruck imitation of his favourite player has come full circle. Vini Jr.&nbsp;first met Ronaldo when the young footballer was 16 years old at a Nike event, but Vini Jr.'s admiration for R9 long preceded that encounter. Vini Jr. grew up hearing the stories bordering on myth, watching highlights that defied physical limits. That admiration led Vini Jr. to install a mural of R9 in his home gym. "Meeting him was like meeting a superhero", the star says. "Over time, we've got closer. He's become a friend, always giving me amazing advice".R9 gives that advice freely. In fact, he sees giving it not as a matter of personal charity, but of national responsibility.&nbsp;

Few other football communities revere their icons like the Brazilians. R9 witnessed it, seeing the crowds that mobbed the travel bus, hearing the roar of tens of thousands in unison as he charged the goal. He saw how his on-pitch ability could transport a fan out of their world and into a new one. As a mentor to young players, R9 has come to appreciate how the sport holds transportive powers.&nbsp;&nbsp;"I think people from the favelas, from poor communities, look to us as footballers and see in the sport a path to a better life—for themselves individually and for their families", he says. "Millions of kids are inspired by the footballers in Brazil because they represent something more than success".So says one hero to the next.&nbsp;

The Nike athlete has intentionally positioned his post-professional career to help set the course for the next generation of footballers, including other stars, such as striker Vini Jr.

Fan hub

R9 on becoming your hero

This generation of female footballers is fuelled by fierce competitors who embody the leading role they play both on and off the pitch.&nbsp;They've directly benefitted from the pioneers in their sport, while working tirelessly to show the rising generations what's possible when you keep pushing the limits.&nbsp;Six of football's most exciting players—Patricia Guijarro, Naomi Girma, Lauren James, Salma Paralluelo, Sophia Wilson (née Smith) and Deyna Castellanos—reflect on the gratitude they feel for the beautiful game and the opportunity to celebrate the future of it, together.&nbsp;

<h3>SEEING IS BECOMING</h3>Sophia Wilson (née Smith) Portland Thorns F.C., USA"I think women's sport is growing so much and getting to a place that it should have always been. But I've been lucky enough to grow up when professional football was always in a dream that I could have because there was a league for me to play in. I'm very fortunate. But even in the short time I've played professionally, I've seen so much growth, not just in women's football, but women's basketball. I mean, all, all female sports are getting more attention, more investment, more recognition and I think it's, it's only the beginning and that's very exciting.I notice the rise in attention from fans in our home games. Match day in Portland is always electric. But I think that's what makes it so special is it doesn't matter if it's just a regular season game or if it's a championship game, the fans always show up. They have energy for 90 plus minutes. I'm honoured to be a part of it and to be able to play in front of such an amazing crowd. The opportunities I have—with the Thorns, with the US National Team—make me more than proud. I have the opportunity to show both young girls and young boys that they can have big dreams and they can become possible just like they did for me".

<h3>HONESTY LEADING TO CHANGE</h3>Deyna Castellanos Portland Thorns F.C., Venezuela"I think the exposure that we have right now is something that has helped the sport for sure. And not just football, but in women's sport in general, I think like it could be even bigger and I think we're gonna get there. Being with Athlete Think Tank has been an amazing experience every time because everybody has the confidence and encouragement to speak their mind about how women's sport needs more support.&nbsp;You learn from everybody's path and everybody's past and future and it's something that, that is just very inspiring".

<h3>FROM ROOTS TO ROLE MODELS</h3>Patricia Guijarro F.C. Barcelona Women, Spain"I grew up in Collerense, a very humble place where I started playing with boys before transitioning to girls' teams, without knowing much about women's football. That whole process of discovering the women's game and seeing important athletes emerge from Collerense has been incredible. We've been fortunate to experience so much. I believe the humility I gained from growing up in Collerense has played a big role in shaping who I am today.Now, younger players have role models to look up to and players they can dream of becoming. When I grew up, I had Virginia Torrecilla nearby in Collerense, but I didn't have many role models beyond that. Today, girls can feel much closer to us and dream of achieving what they see us doing".

<h3>WITH ATTENTION COMES RESPONSIBILITY</h3>Salma Paralluelo F.C. Barcelona Women, Spain"I think I've been fortunate to come into the game at a time when a lot of progress has already been made, thanks to previous generations of players who fought for those changes. It's a more comfortable situation for me now, although there's still a long way to go. I'm happy with the progress and proud that we're finally getting the recognition we deserve. More people recognise you now. Honestly, I'm someone who enjoys having my own space, so I don't love being in the spotlight all the time. But it's something that comes with success, and I know it stems from something positive. I love how we keep pushing boundaries and striving for real growth in women's football and sport in Spain. That collective drive is what excites me the most".

<h3>DRAWING SUPPORT FROM HOME</h3>Naomi Girma Chelsea F.C. Women, USA"I think being from San Jose, a place with such a deep history in women's football, shaped how I kind of view the game and how I just like to have fun and enjoy everything that I'm doing. And I think in like big pressure moments as an athlete, I can go back mentally to where I started playing. It always makes me feel calmer and more in the moment. I know the city of San Jose is behind us as female athletes. We're working hard to make the future be even better for the next generation".

<h3>WATCHING THE FUTURE UNFOLD</h3>Lauren James Chelsea F.C. Women, England"Growing up, I couldn't watch women's football as easily as I can now. I'm hoping that both girls and boys can watch me play and know that they can achieve the same things for their futures. Those that know me know I'm proud of being a Londoner. The city has been a huge part of my identity as a female footballer".

"Growing up, I couldn't watch women's football as easily as I can now. I'm hoping that both girls and boys can watch me play and know that they can achieve the same things for their futures".

Six fierce footballers on paving the way for the next generation

From her start at recording music in a makeshift wardrobe studio in Johannesburg to becoming the youngest African artist to win a Grammy, Tyla has had an unstoppable rise.&nbsp;She's dominated fashion weeks, lit up the VMAs and turned popiano, her signature fusion of Amapiano, Afrobeats, pop and R&B, into a global movement.&nbsp;With her breakout hit Water earning critical acclaim and the Water Dance creating hundreds of thousands of social media iterations, the 23-year-old has solidified herself as both a musical and cultural force. And just like her sound, her style is ever-evolving—one moment in Nike Shox and a tracksuit, the next, giving high-glam red carpet.&nbsp;Where there's music and style, there's sport. Which makes Tyla's new partnership with Nike such a natural fit. A lifelong fan of the brand who grew up coveting her brother's Nike hand-me-downs, the South African pop star has always embraced the crossover of sport, movement and music. Below, we hear from Tyla about the rhythm that drives her, the Nike staples she swears by and why she refuses to be put in a box.&nbsp;

What's your&nbsp;most defining Nike memory?&nbsp;Growing up and seeing my brother get the hand-me-downs from my dad. They were always Nike, and I wanted them so badly. He was the only boy in the family, so he kind of got whatever he wanted. I'd just have to borrow them whenever I could.&nbsp;How did you develop your signature sound and how has it evolved?&nbsp;I'm so happy that I was able to come into the game with a sound that nobody has done, you know? The way my music sounds—nobody sounds like that. The fact that I have my own identity as an artist is what every artist, I'm sure, dreams of. So I'm just grateful that people vibe with it. It's bigger than where I'm from; it touches the world. And it's exciting because it shows just how far we can take this.&nbsp;My hope for the next generation of African artists, especially women, is that we can make what we want to make and not be boxed into a specific genre. Depending on where you're from or the way you sound, even if you make something that's not generically Afrobeats, if you're from the continent, it's easy to be clumped together. I'd like for us to be able to exist in every space as artists—to create what we want and be recognised for it, without it being watered down into one thing.&nbsp;In terms of my sound, it started with a vision. I knew that I wanted to be in pop, but I didn't want to do it in a normal way. I didn't want to be a generic pop girl. Where I'm from, I had huge influences from Western music, but also local music. I wanted to mix it all into one and see what I could do.&nbsp;My manager had this small house in Johannesburg, and I would go there every weekend. They made a studio out of a wardrobe, and I remember always going in there, recording, trying new things, experimenting. That's where I wrote my first song.&nbsp;From there, it just evolved into something I'm so proud of because it really felt like I brought a vision to life. When I signed to the label, I told them, "This is my vision. I really want this to be my sound". They supported me in that, and we just figured it out along the way.&nbsp;&nbsp;

With your nonstop schedule, what Nike pieces do you rely on to stay comfortable and stylish on the go?&nbsp;Definitely sneakers.&nbsp;Especially the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nike.com/w/womens-shox-shoes-5e1x6z7e8jqzy7ok" target="_blank">Nike Shox</a>. But&nbsp;recently I've been wearing the Clogposite collab with Supreme. I have every colour—&nbsp;literally&nbsp;every colour. I put them on for everything. At airports, in the studio, walking around. They're just so comfortable and convenient.&nbsp;I just feel like it makes you look more fly when you have a good shoe on.

Tell us about your personal style and how it's evolved.My style has evolved a lot over time. When I look back at some pictures, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, what were you thinking?" I&nbsp;get bored so quickly, and I change my mind all the time. I'll love an outfit today and a month later, I'll hate that I ever put it on.&nbsp;People say my style is kind of "Flintstone"—ripped up, distressed, all that. It started when I had to dress up for shows but didn't have access to a lot of resources. Me and my friend Thato would take random pieces, cut them up, tie them together—literally make outfits out of nothing. The more I did it, the more I loved it, and it just became my thing. Now, I hate anything that looks too perfect.&nbsp;I used to have a really clear vision for how I wanted to look. These days, I'm more open and experimenting. Before, I wasn't that deep into fashion—I'd just put something on, and if I felt fly, that was it. Now, with fashion weeks and having greater access to brands, I've really fallen in love with it. I want to try everything.My aesthetic depends on how I want to feel. Sometimes I want to feel pretty, sometimes cosy, sometimes boyish. It&nbsp;depends on my mood. I don't want to look the same all the time. When I look back years from now, I want to see many different versions of myself. One hundred different Tylas.&nbsp;What excites you most about this partnership?I mean, I'm a Nike girl. I love the brand. Nike isn't just athletic clothes, it's fashion. I really like that because when I wear Nike, it doesn't feel like I'm just putting on a shoe or top. You feel fly wearing it. All the collabs, vintage Nike, it's always been something that I gravitated towards. I also love how diverse Nike is. I'm really excited to work together, not only to wear the clothes but to hopefully create something with the team too. Maybe a Tyla shoe?&nbsp;That would be fire.&nbsp;

Where there's music and style, there's sport. Which makes Tyla's new partnership with Nike such a natural fit. Hear from the Grammy Award-winning artist about the rhythm that drives her, the Nike staples she swears by and why she refuses to be put in a box.

Welcome to the family

5 questions with global sensation Tyla

For A'ja Wilson and Issa Rae, being real has always been their foundation for success. Now they're dropping gems as they chat about the A'One Signature Collection. You're gonna want to pull up a seat.

A'ja Wilson's <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/behind-the-design-a-ja-wilson-signature-shoe" target="_blank">new signature shoe, the A'One,</a> debuted on 4 February 2025—the silhouette is a reflection of her expressive honesty, to herself, the game and in her relationship with Nike. Real through and through, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/aja-wilson-interview-overcoming-self-doubt" target="_blank">A'ja sets the tone</a> for how to be confident, authentic and tenacious, on and off the court.

Watch the WNBA champion and the award-winning actress and writer chat about A'ja's passion for the game, the importance of her family and what she wants all hoopers to get from the A'One, her new signature shoe.

Real talk with A'ja Wilson and Issa Rae

It was the first time A'ja Wilson saw a physical sample of her first signature shoe, the A'One. She turned the shoe over in her hands. Ben Nethongkome, the shoe's designer, saw tears well up in her eyes. "I promised I wouldn't cry", she joked to Nethongkome. She wore her excitement openly, unguarded."A'ja is one of the most honest, original, expressive players I've ever worked with", says Nethongkome. "In designing her shoe, she's never brought anything less than her honest point of view. That's exactly the kind of feedback you need when you collaborate on a design with an athlete". That expressive honesty is core to A'ja's shoe, but also to her life, her game and her relationship with Nike. She joined the brand after turning pro in 2018. She became the face of Nike Basketball's Cosmic Unity line, building a rapport with designers like Nethongkome. She quickly established her voice as an athlete who was comfortable giving clear feedback on what was working in a particular product, and importantly, what wasn't. The brand encouraged her to share more. In 2022, she was invited to be a member of Nike's <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-athlete-think-tank-second-cohort" target="_blank">Athlete Think Tank</a>, a group of professional athletes who are encouraged to give unfiltered feedback on how the brand can better support women athletes.

"You have to be real with people, and that comes from being confident", says A'ja. "Any time I'm doubtful, I remind myself of my identity. Waking up, I gotta be like, 'Girl, you're blessed, you're A'ja. Go take care of business'. I'm fully equipped to feel how I feel and execute my game plan in life".&nbsp;On court, her game shimmers with a take-charge aura. A ball leaving her fingertips on a turnaround jumper still is traced with her confidence as it rotates towards the rim. Her signature shoe, then, had to be canvassed with that self-belief.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Pink A'ura launch colourway symbolises A'ja's ability to lead with confidence, loyalty and passion, with layers of pink creating a gradual ambiance that's flush with Leo energy and lights up the court in her favourite colour.

The silhouette's Cushlon ST2 foam works with a firmer base to deliver explosive responsiveness and smooth, cushioned landings so hoopers stay ready for every play.

A post-game quote that speaks to A'ja's trademark tenacity is immortalised on the heel: "Weakness, weakness. We don't have time for that".

Celtic symbols for "Mum" and "Dad" pay homage to A'ja's parents, further harking to her belief that family means everything.

A'ja's signature logo is inspired by the star she draws inside the "A" of her signature while referencing her role as an "A1" hooper who inspires kids to reach for their dreams. With that motivation in mind, the Nike A'One will be available in kids' sizes as small as 13.5.

Nethongkome and his team spoke at length with A'ja about what technical qualities she needed in the A'One. She was clear that comfort and support were key for her, as those qualities would support her on-court versatility at both ends. No gimmicks. So, the midsole combo needed to do a little bit of everything. A Cushlon SLT midsole balances a plush ride with a responsive court feel, while a firmer foam carrier is wrapped around the outside to help brace A'ja's footwork against hard cuts. A lateral TPU outrigger helps keeps her over the footbed.&nbsp;&nbsp;Like A'ja herself, authenticity is at the heart of the shoe. It was in the refinement of the upper where Nethongkome watched A'ja show up to design meetings as her most animated self. Nethongkome describes meeting Wilson in Los Angeles a few years ago. The team kitted out a studio entirely with mood boards, inspirational images, swatch samples and more, from ceiling to floor. Rather than wait for their cue, A'ja took the reins. She held tiny material swatches and compared palette combinations. She sifted through images of natural objects that held important metaphorical meaning for her, like clamshells containing a precious pearl. She talked out loud as she held neutral colours to the room's light—not just a grey, but a specific grey, the grey she'd like to use someday for her wedding day.&nbsp;

"It's not uncommon for athletes to be a little bashful during a design work session, because design feedback isn't necessarily in their wheelhouse", says Nethongkome. "Not A'ja. Her energy was infectious. Actually, her enthusiasm also helped some of our more bashful designers open up, too, because no comment was off the table".&nbsp;Her honesty deepened the expressive detailing layered into the A'One. One of the review sessions last year involved travelling four hours north on I-5 to meet Wilson in Seattle, who was attending a concert later that night. Wearing a short-sleeve top, A'ja sported a new tattoo design above her right tricep, which Nethongkome noticed. A'ja explained that the intricate symbols were Celtic characters representing her parents' names, Roscoe and Eva.&nbsp;&nbsp;Nethongkome asked, Can we add some of these family details into the shoe's design? The Celtic script was later incorporated into the shoe's inside tongue. Her late grandmother, Hattie, is memorialised through inspirational quotes on the outsole. The upper's pearl motifs are directly influenced by the pearl necklace she gave A'ja when she was a child. A'ja's willingness to share, with sincerity, created a two-way exchange that transformed the shoe into a more personal memento, one that narrated Wilson's closest connections, ambitions and goals.&nbsp;

Speaking of goals, A'ja describes the innate accountability that comes along with being a signature athlete, with her own shoe. The products need to be bigger than her, she says, because her legacy in basketball needs to be about more than her personal success. While indelibly personal, the shoe had to relate to all backgrounds, all skill levels, from the most skilled pro to the novice who's picking up a ball for the first time.&nbsp;"Going after this legacy I'm chasing, to be the best, is a huge responsibility", she says. "But something I've always wanted to be about is for fans to see me as a real person. We can sit down and have a normal conversation. I'm chasing this goal, but I'm not on this unapproachable pedestal. We can be real with each other".&nbsp;&nbsp;A'ja's brought nothing but realness to the A'One. Sometimes, that includes some playful banter, even the occasional dare. A few rounds before she saw the final version—the meeting when she got tears in her eyes—the team pulled a prototype from the bag that was a typical sample size, a men's 8. She was emphatic. "That's it", she said. "I'm wearing these tomorrow".&nbsp;&nbsp;Then she smiled. "Try to stop me".&nbsp;

When you're designing for the queen, you have to perfect the crown.

Making it

How we made A'ja Wilson's signature shoe as real as she is

The Willy Wonka factory for innovation. The NASA of sports science. The epicentre of performance product creation. Athletes, industry leaders and visiting partners have described the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, in myriad ways. Our teams like to call it their dreamland. The place where creating, designing and breaking limits to better serve athletes has no bounds. The secret rooms where the unimaginable—the future of fastest, strongest, greatest—is made real. The images below capture a behind-the-scenes look into those unknown spaces, with audio context from Nike employees who help bring the dreams to life.

LEBRON JAMES INNOVATION CENTER

The <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/inside-the-nike-sports-research-lab-lebron-james-innovation-center" target="_blank">LeBron James Innovation Center</a> is where listening to the voice of the athlete is made tangible.&nbsp;While athletes are observed,&nbsp;others are at play too: researching, testing and, yes, creating the future. The goal is to understand athletes' unique needs and opportunities, contextualise challenges and generate breakthroughs across the spectrum of play and movement in a variety of environments.&nbsp;Much of that action takes place in the building's top floor, the Nike Sport&nbsp;Research Lab (NSRL), which houses the world's largest motion-capture installation (400 cameras), a basketball court, pitch and track with 97&nbsp;force plates, sweat-wicking mannequins and three environmental climate chambers that can mimic nearly any condition on Earth. Some of the innovator's prize tools: more than 80 prototyping machines that allow the Nike team to produce samples to test in under an hour.

DEPARTMENT OF NIKE ARCHIVES (DNA)

Understanding the past can inform and inspire how we innovate for the future, and no space at Nike preserves and stokes a more thorough accounting of our heritage than the Department of Nike Archives. This 50-plus-year Nike archive is the greatest in the world. From the actual broken waffle iron Bill Bowerman made famous to the self-lacing shoes from everyone's favourite futuristic film to Serena's iconic gladiator outfit, DNA houses the tangible history—papers, posters, photographs, memorabilia and of course, shoes—that represent the culture and soul of the Swoosh.

AIR MANUFACTURING INNOVATION (AIR MI)

There's something magical about putting on a fresh pair of Nike Air shoes, and we think it's thanks to our&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-air-blueprint-pack-official-images" target="_blank">unique Air technology</a>. In just three facilities in the US—two located a mile from Nike World Headquarters—experts on our Air Manufacturing Innovation (Air MI) team make that magic happen. Air MI is where we produce the propriety TPU material that forms our Air units and where we hold 500-plus patents. It's also the place where a highly skilled team comes together to build the products that will help break sport barriers. Inside the facility are engineers with 15 specialities across them, who custom-build technology platforms and flexible, scalable production lines to deliver the exact capabilities needed to manufacture the next generation of Air. That's in partnership with skilled production teammates, trained across the line, to ensure the highest fidelity and quality of our Air units.

Advanced Product Creation Center (APCC)

The APCC is a top-secret, state-of-the-art facility focused on innovation in product design. Consider it the home of rapid prototyping for Nike designers, scientists and researchers who need to test, refine and create new ideas for athletes at scale. With advanced methods of make, the APCC explores more flexible and forward-looking approaches that streamline the development and manufacturing process, reducing time and effort, while pushing boundaries in sports innovation.⁠ You'll find chemical, mechatronics, process and robotics engineers, as well as machinists, all dedicated to accelerating ideas through trial and experimentation, faster and more precisely than ever before.

Photography by <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/alastairwiper" target="_blank">Alastair Philip Wiper</a>, shot for the "<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.design-museum.de/en/exhibitions/detailpages/nike.html" target="_blank">Nike: Form Follows Motion</a>" exhibit at the Vitra Design Museum.

Get a behind-the-scenes look of Nike's World Headquarters and the places where we create, design and dream, all to serve athletes.

The spaces where Nike creates the future of sport

The connection between what we wear and how we look and feel is undeniable; the relationship has the potential to bring power, confidence, poise, tenacity.&nbsp; That connection is no different if you're a young athlete. The way you wear your hair, the personal tweaks you give to your kit or your pre-game routine, the feeling you get when you just see your shirt—all of these details reinforce your persona, on and off the pitch. This is no truer than for the future icons of sport, standout athletes who aren't waiting to be told how to look, dress or go after their goals. Here, five of Nike's up-and-coming athletes share what makes them feel and look their best for their sport.&nbsp;

<h3>LESS REALLY IS MORE</h3>Maddy Elmore Athletics, University of Oregon "In the summer, I like wearing just a sports bra and tight-fitting clothes—as little clothing as possible. We warm up in this rain jacket that is huge on me, but when I take it off to race, there's a real transition in how I feel. With less on, I feel more free.&nbsp;My kit has changed as I've progressed. I always thought briefs would be super uncomfortable, but now I love them. When I put them on and I'm doing my strides before a race, I feel good. I used to have lucky socks and all those things, but now that I've got older I tell myself, this is just another day. If everything's not perfect right before a race, it's OK, because I do this every day in training.I'm from Eugene, I was born and raised here, so the Oregon kit is very meaningful to me. When I was younger I would go to watch all the meets at Hayward Field. Now, I wear the same kit as athletes I always looked up to, and I take a lot of pride in that".

<h3>THE RITUALS MATTER</h3>Jaiden Rodriguez Football midfielder, USA National Team"It's always an honour to step onto the pitch, but playing for the national team is something else. We always talk about 'borrowing the shirt'—it's not yours until you're on the senior team. On youth teams, you're borrowing the number. It is a privilege even to step in the dressing room. &nbsp;There are different personalities and different rituals for the team. It's all over the place until the end, when we come together before we head out onto the pitch. I don't know if it's a superstition, but I always hold my shinguards in my hand while I warm up. I like being light on my feet when I get my touches in. Then, when we go into contact, I put them on, pull my socks up and I'm ready to go".

<h3>THE BEST LOOK IS A REAL LOOK</h3>Simone Jackson Football forward, University of Southern California"Shirts mean so much to me. I have the one from my U20 Women's World Cup team framed, and it's a constant reminder to dream big. I also feel like shirts play a big part when I'm supporting. I vividly remember going to the Women's World Cup final in Lyon—my family and I were fully decked out. When you're there and you get the shirt, you're almost one with the team. It's just 10 times better. So, if I go to a game, I get the shirt. On game day, I am big on my hair. In Black hair culture, sometimes you feel like you have to add or straighten. I'm a natural-hair girl, because I think you don't necessarily have to do something to feel red-carpet ready. When I play, I wear my hair in its most natural, curly state. I want to let all the little girls that look like me know that your best look can be your most natural look, so my hair is super big, as poofy as possible. I don't really do make-up. I brush my teeth and smile big. Maybe I'll do my edges, if I'm feeling a little extra. Football is obviously a team sport, and I've always been big on looking uniform with the team. At USC, we don't do last names on the back of the shirt, and I like the fact that it's team before self. We have our team mantra on the back, 'we over me'. But off the pitch, I want to be the most unique. Even if we have the same thing, I want to dress it up differently, turn a head or two. I like bright colours, clothes that are fun yet simple. I make every day a fit day; I'm not afraid to go to class looking fitted".

<h3>DRESS FOR THE ENERGY YOU WANT</h3>Kiara Romero Golf, University of Oregon "I like to dress up when I play. I want to feel good out there. I'll curl my hair, wear ribbons and do a little bit of make-up. I like that tennis vibe some players have—kind of country club. I usually go with a skirt and a light top, a sweatshirt or a long sleeve. Most of the time I keep the colours subtle, then some days I'll feel it out. If it's a nice, easy day, I'll take it easy with the colour. If I feel like I need to play more aggressively, I'll go with a brighter colour to match that energy. I always match the colour of my top with the pen I use on my golf ball. Golf balls all look the same, and you don't want to accidentally hit someone else's, so everyone marks their ball. I have like, eight pens in my golf bag. Actually, there's a lot of stuff in there. Golf gloves get a lot of attention. I do this thing where I don't close the glove completely, it just kind of hangs open. When I get nervous, my hands get a little sweaty. The gloves are looser that way, less restricted, and I like a bit of airflow in there".

<h3>FIND YOUR VISUAL REMINDER</h3>Scottie Antonucci Football midfielder, USA National Team"I remember when I first put on the crest for the national team. I was at my first camp and I went to the equipment manager to pick up my stuff, and when I looked down at the crest in my hands, I was like, this is a little weird. This is what Alex Morgan wears. This is what Carli Lloyd wears. This kit is worn by all these players, and now it's in my hands. Knowing that I'm playing for something more than myself is extremely important to me. When I'm feeling down or I know I've got to keep pushing through, I'll look down at my crest. I'll even tap on it sometimes. It reminds you that you're playing for something that all these players before you did too—men and women that you've always looked up to. Now, you play a small part in that. That's what really motivates me on the pitch".

Learn more about Nike's 50 years of advancing women's sportswear and women's sport in the new book "<a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/look-good-feel-good-play-good-nike-apparel" rel="noopener noreferrer">Look Good, Feel Good, Play Good: Nike Apparel</a>", which charts a visual history of the relationship between women and the garments they wear.

Make-up. Hair. What it feels like to wear the kit, the shirt, the gear. Five up-and-coming Nike women athletes explain why these details matter—and how they bring power to their game.

"The better I look and feel, the better I play"

<h3>Any conversation about women in golf inevitably includes Michelle Wie West. A phenom who picked up clubs at age 4, Michelle is a force on the greens. She was the youngest player ever to make the cut for the US Women's Open at 13. She signed with Nike at age 15. And as a teenager, she famously fought for women's sport equality to play alongside men on the PGA circuit, debuting at an early-season open in 2004 with a second-round 68 that still claims the record for the lowest PGA round by a woman.</h3><h3>Michelle went on to win the US Women's Open and five more events on the LPGA tour. Last year, she retired from her professional golf career, earning a standing ovation as she sank her putt on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach. She'd set her mind to a new goal: growing her family. Michelle and her husband, Jonnie West, had a daughter, Makenna, in 2020, and wanted a second child—but the couple hit heartbreaking obstacles, including pregnancy loss and a difficult IVF journey.</h3><h3>Finding strength to get through hard moments is something Michelle says she's always tapped into as an athlete. It's those same athlete-minded traits—perseverance, dedication, passion—that she wants to instil in her daughter and, as of last October, her new baby boy, Jagger Jerry Yoojun West.</h3><h3>Here, Michelle shares what victories look like to her now, the joy she's found in working with Nike on products for women and mothers, and what's next for her in sport. </h3>

To get through IVF, I drew on my experience in hardship and adversity as a professional athlete. Especially the physical aspects. As a professional golfer, I had to learn how to keep my stamina up, keep my body strong, and that helped me steel myself through the injections, the bruising. Of course, it's not a complete one-to-one, but I found there were many similarities to sport. You can try too hard, get frustrated and feel stuck. I've learnt in both that sometimes you have to let the process take over.When I think about pregnancy now, I think about it like training for a major. When I got pregnant with my first child, it was during COVID, and it happened so easily that I didn't even think about it. Getting pregnant the second time was completely different. It didn't come as easily. I paid more attention to preparing my body for birth. I worked with a nutritionist on an eating plan. While I couldn't really work out too much, I was mindful about movement like walking. And I was more intentional on managing my energy levels, and my emotions as well.

As a mum, I absolutely channel the mental training I developed as a golfer. When I'm tired, when my toddler's crying, I tell myself to take a deep breath and not auto-react. It's like hitting a really bad shot on the green and just not letting it get to you. And just like in sport, leaning on other people is crucial too. Making sure I involve my partner and not trying to do everything myself, not trying to be that super mum or guilt myself into that. And then sometimes I'll just text my husband and say "I'm going to get my nails done. Figure it out".

Being part of the <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-athlete-think-tank-second-cohort" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nike Athlete Think Tank</a> [a collective of women athletes who help advise the brand] has been a such a cool experience. I feel grateful and lucky to be welcomed into that community, and I've made so many amazing friends—women ranging from young girls in their teens to fellow mums. It's been interesting to see that, while we all have different sports backgrounds, we've battled many of the same issues and problems. And it's been fun and meaningful to have input into <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/all-movement-all-moments-our-next-era-of-designing-for-women" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nike women's products</a> that have come to market, like the <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-leak-protection-period-innovation" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leak Protection Period Shorts</a>, and to see Nike incorporate our suggestions. Part of the work I did with Athlete Think Tank was giving insights for <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-s-new-wearable-pump-compatible-sports-bra-and-easyon-shoe-give-mothers-more-support" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nike's new Swoosh (M) Bra</a>. This nursing bra allows women to move while they express breast milk, and I'm really excited to try it out. When I was pregnant last time, the technology was just being developed, so this pregnancy I absolutely got a hands-free pump. I think the bra is <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/we-knew-women-needed-this-bra-yesterday" rel="noopener noreferrer">a game-changer for women</a>. When you're plugged into a wall to pump, you're stuck. To be able to nurse or pump while you're, say, walking on the treadmill, doing something for yourself, is so huge. After having my daughter, I remember I would have to leave the golf course to go pump between shots. I'd have to take a hole off. With this bra, I could pump on the golf buggie! It is physical, mental and emotional freedom to not have to be in the corner of a locked room every two and a half hours to pump. And I think products like this can prolong breastfeeding journeys. It's been fun to see the Nike maternity line expand, to try out different things from the line. I also helped give insights for the Nike (M) apparel, which people think is just for pregnancy and postnatal, but can absolutely be for an IVF journey too. You get so bloated and nothing fits, and that takes a big hit on your psyche when you're already feeling pretty low. My maternity style this second time around was tighter rib-knit dresses, two-piece sets. I wasn't afraid to experiment. I wore a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C-Vqi9eyJ0-/?hl=en&img_index=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nike Swim two-piece in my third trimester</a> and just sized up. I got the triangle bikini, and it was holding on for dear life. One thing I would love to see more of is people supporting women through pregnancy losses. To talk about that more, and to put supporting loss on par with supporting pregnancy. I think Nike, and all of us, has done a good job of starting to <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/this-is-a-product-that-can-change-people-s-lives" rel="noopener noreferrer">talk about periods and menstrual cycles</a>, to develop products to help support those moments, but I think there's so much more that is involved in the road to motherhood.

The Nike (M) Swoosh Bra has adjustable cups to accommodate wearable breast pumps; proprietary hardware on the straps allows individual strap drop-down for nursing; and the interior lining features Nike Leak Protection: Breast Milk, a special moisture-managing material that helps prevent visible breast milk leaks.

Periods can be a barrier to sport and movement for teens and adults—physically, mentally and emotionally. Knowing this, Nike created Leak Protection: Period, an ultra-thin, absorbent liner that helps protect against period leaks to provide extra comfort and confidence. It debuted in the Nike One Leak Protection: Period Shorts.

Nike has extended its Nike (M) collection, adding a new dress along with refreshed tank tops, tops, shorts and leggings.

Nike's expanding maternity and postnatal products

What fuelled me as a pro golfer was that obsession to get better, to see how good I could be. That drove me through practice and through training and through the hard times. If I didn't have that single-minded way of thinking, I felt like I wouldn't reach my potential. And, when I was out there pushing myself—it was fun. There was nothing more fun than playing great golf, knowing that every shot that you hit is going to be good, the putts are going to drop. And when tough times inevitably hit, you're just trying to get back to those moments again. Throughout my career that's what I leaned on; an insatiable desire to be back in those moments. Now, I've transferred some of that ambition into my family. My daughter, Makenna, is 4 years old. And I've loved seeing the positive impact I can make on her and how she sees the world. You know, when they're younger, you don't really know what you're doing, you're just trying to keep them alive. Now, I can see her trying to emulate me, and I'm focused on being the example I want to set—showing her strong work ethic, how to self-motivate, the power of kindness and empathy. During my golf career, I tried to make bold choices, to not be afraid to fail or make a fool of myself, and those are the values I hope to instil in my daughter, my new baby. And it's a fun ride. Makenna is just starting sports, and I am introducing her to golf, but also football, swimming and she's recently gotten into tennis. Really, I'm just her Uber driver at this point. I remember with Makenna, I was on the range 10 days after giving birth. This time I will not be doing that. I definitely want to <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/six-instant-benefits-of-running" rel="noopener noreferrer">get back into running</a>, to do Pilates and strength train and feel strong in my body again. And I still enjoy playing golf! Although tennis is my game at the moment. I'm looking forward to seeing how good I can get at that—and doing it with my daughter.

The golf champion talks about her challenges with IVF and pregnancy, and the model she wants to be for her daughter and new baby.

Michelle Wie West is still breaking barriers

Are you debating whether to run today? Whether to work out? Whether to set a new, challenging goal that might scare you? Championship coach Dawn Staley has words for you. Take a listen, and make your move.

Dawn Staley was featured in <a href="https://www.instagram.com/citizenmagazine/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">Citizen Issue 004</a>, themed "Strange World." The issue explores the new and the unknown, the strange moments, and the strange ideas we've encountered, all through the lens of Black women, including actress and cover star Ayo Ediberi, who was photographed in Nike's The Suit.

Dawn Staley portrait by <a href="https://www.justin-french.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Justin French</a>

Follow the voice of NCAA championship coach and three-time Olympic gold medalist Dawn Staley for the motivation you need to train, to focus, to meet your next big goal.

The 2-Minute Pep Talk You Need to Get Moving Right Now

<h3>In 2011, Faith Kipyegon walked the grounds at Unhuru Gardens in Nairobi, Kenya, the wind tossing the long grass in her path. She was 16 years old and competing in the junior division of the Kenyan National Cross Country Championships, recognised as one of the most competitive races in the world, a 6-kilometre sprint over rough, hilly terrain through Kenya's Rift Valley. After checking out the racecourse on a leisurely walk, the only variable that mattered to Faith was, poetically, the matter under her feet. "I took one look at the texture of the grass, how soft it was and I told my coach, 'I'm not going to use my spikes today. I'm going to win barefoot'", she says. And she did.</h3><h3>In some ways, Faith Kipyegon, now 30, still describes herself as that same, barefooted young runner who believed she could go the distance. Her performance in Paris this summer secured her place in athletics lore as the only runner, man or woman, to win three back-to-back gold medals in the 1,500 metre. Her 2023 campaign, when she set world records in the 1,500m, the mile and the 5,000m, is considered one of the greatest individual seasons in the history of athletics. In other ways, her identity as a runner has fundamentally changed, particularly since the 2018 addition of her very junior training partner, her daughter Alyn.&nbsp;</h3><h3>Here, Faith shares more on her dominant career, the intersection of motherhood and running identity, the one thing Alyn needs after a victory by her mother, and more.&nbsp;</h3> Running barefoot has always felt comfortable to me. When I started running competitively at 14, I was given spikes to wear for the first time. I was happy to have them, but feeling as comfortable in spikes as I was while running barefoot took a long time. I even turned down wearing spikes a few times. Now, I still can't believe how I'm running in the fastest spikes on the planet.Running is a shared childhood experience in Kenya. I grew up in a small village called Ndababit, in Nakuru country, about 140 miles west of Nairobi. From the time I was in pimary school, we'd run four kilometres to school, run back home for lunch, run back to school and then run four kilometres home, every day until early secondary school.When young runners from the next generation watch me compete, I want them to see freedom—the freedom to challenge themselves in new ways. My 2024 season was beautiful. I was thankful for competing in the 5,000m in Paris and the 1,500m, which happened a few days later. But when I held that silver medal from the 5,000m, I thought to myself, "I can't let this disturb my 1,500 dreams". So I put that silver medal away. I had to be mentally strong to achieve my goal in the 1,500m.Motherhood gives me life as a runner. I’ve gotten extra energy from being a mother to Alyn. She sees how committed I am, how hard I work. During the season, she understands that I go to training camp from Monday to Saturday, and then I go back home, only to spend one day with her. It's really not easy, but she understands the sacrifices I'm making. She motivates me to work as hard as I can.I talk to my daughter before every race. She normally says the same thing to me: She wishes me all the best, and she asks me to bring chocolate back home—and the gold medal.

Motherhood can affect how you see your running career. My approach to Rio, Tokyo and Paris were all totally different. My first gold medal in Rio, I was 22, so young. I was still running for myself. In Tokyo, I had my daughter around me, but she was only three years old, and she couldn't fully understand what I was doing. She was watching me and going, "Mummy's running", not, "Mummy's running for a gold medal".&nbsp;In Paris, she knows what it's like when I win, but she also knows what it's like when I lose. After the 5,000 in Paris, she called me and asked, "Mum, why were you in position two this time? What happened?" It's very difficult to explain to a child what happened in a race while still being a role model to her. It's totally different from Rio. Today, I'm running to inspire my daughter and other young girls like her.All athletes have something that exists outside their comfort zone. For me, that's swimming. I remember in 2011 when I was in Punta Umbria for the Youth International Cross Country Championships. I met with my team at one of the local lakes to celebrate. I looked down at the water, believing it was this shallow pool. I jumped in. The next thing I knew, the water was up to my ears, and I couldn't hear anything. Swimming is the one thing I wish I was better at.When I reach the end of my career, I want to be known for empowering all women, and especially new mothers. It's possible to be a mother, go on maternity leave and come back even stronger than before. Being a mother is not the end of your career. It's the beginning of a new chapter.

The middle-distance champion on her dominant career, the intersection of motherhood and running identity, and more.

How Faith Kipyegon empowers herself—and all women runners

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.

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".

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