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

Rachel Cavanaugh is a Portland-based freelance writer who covers food, lifestyle, travel, fitness, adventure and the outdoors. Her work has appeared in Men's Journal, Outdoor Life, GearJunkie, MSN, Yahoo, The Independent, The Hollywood Reporter, Digital Trends, Bustle, Elite Daily, Mic, Travel Oregon, Matador Network and others. She has a background in digital production and brand storytelling and holds a journalism degree from the University of Montana.

Rachel Cavanaugh

Bea De Giacomo lives and works in Milan. Her work focuses on people and stories, always told in a delicate and natural way. She always looks for authenticity. Over recent years, she has focused on portraiture, travel and publishing projects.Her work is known internationally and her collaborations include prestigious magazines and brands such as The New York Times, M le Monde, Chanel, Hermes.

Bea De Giacomo

Jannik Sinner wasn't supposed to be in Milan this week.&nbsp; Fresh off the Australian Open, the Italian tennis champion had planned to head back to his hometown of Sexten, Italy, nestled in the Dolomite mountains. But when Nike offered him the opportunity to partner on a one-of-one, design-focused performance look that would help kick off the brand's presence during the world's biggest winter sports event,&nbsp;Sinner rerouted to the fashion capital.Collaborating on the head-to-toe ensemble—a bespoke jacket, insulated A.I.R. gilet, tailored trousers and footwear—meant pairing one of the world's best players with Nike's top designers to create a look rooted in who Sinner is beyond the court.In his home country and with the world watching, the Nike athlete donned the customised look—sculptural&nbsp;and winter-ready with deep pleats and a boxy cocoon shape—for&nbsp;one-on-one interviews with global fashion media alongside Nike's Chief Design Officer Martin Lotti and for a special event celebrating the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-reintroduces-acg-all-conditions-gear" target="_blank">relaunch of All Conditions Gear (ACG)</a>.

On Nike's part, the crafted ensemble is a statement on the athlete-brand partnership, a glimpse into how Nike approaches serving athletes with performance and expression on the world stage. The layered system for Sinner moves beyond simply a competition kit and reflects his Alpine roots and the life he leads when he's not competing."For me, it's very important to always have a small sign of where I'm from. Take the carabiner, with the mountain detail—the small details always make a very big difference", he says. The reference is to a pure silver keychain carabiner hanging from a chain on the customised trousers; the carabiner was created in a shape inspired by an elevation map of the Alps, where Sinner spent years skiing growing up.

Made to Sinner's exact specifications, the one-of-one look was created by Nike Senior Design Director Raffaella Barbey, working alongside Lotti, and a multidisciplinary design team. Barbey oversaw fittings with Sinner in Melbourne during the Australian Open, taking his input directly into production and refining the details through multiple rounds of iteration.Early versions of the jacket featured orange piping, which designers ultimately softened after hearing his input, opting for a more muted palette aligned with his personal style. Together, the team focused on balancing Nike-only performance innovation with premium craftsmanship and elevated design.The resulting layered system centres on a customised ACG gilet featuring adaptive A.I.R. technology—the same innovation used in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/acg-team-usa-collection-official-images" target="_blank">Therma-FIT Air Milano medal-stand jackets worn by Team USA</a>—paired with tailored outerwear and footwear built to perform in winter conditions without sacrificing style."This experience felt very different from work I've done with other brands", Sinner says. "I was more involved in the process. There were a lot of conversations about what could be better, what wasn't right, what worked well. In the end, we came out with an incredible result". For Lotti, projects like this reflect a broader approach to design, one shaped by decades of athlete partnerships, iconic products and culture-defining moments. "When you're designing something one-of-one like this, the process begins the same as it does when we're creating for competition: by listening to the voice of the athlete. What their preferences are and what their needs are, both from a performance point of view and from a visual perspective", Lotti says.&nbsp; "What's different is that we can push the limits more—on&nbsp;innovation, on methods of make and on material choices. From a design point of view, we can also include bespoke and personal design details. And we can act much faster, working on a much shorter timeline because we're only building one versus 500 or 10,000".

In Sinner's case, that meant creating something that reflects the person behind the ranking—an Italian athlete shaped by the mountains, with a clear point of view on style and a life beyond the court that has always informed how he moves through the world.

At Nike, projects like this aren't treated as one-and-done statements. They're part of a broader commitment to <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/maria-sharapova-little-black-tennis-dress-hall-of-fame" target="_blank">designing with athletes at defining points in their journey</a>, built on long-term relationships, close collaboration and a shared investment in getting it right.Lotti has a name for that approach: Nike Atelier.A platform for creating customised designs for select signature athletes at key off-field moments, Atelier applies the same athlete-driven mindset and attention to craft that define Nike innovation, extending it into moments where identity, environment and culture play an equally important role."Sinner is one of the best tennis players in the world but what many people don't know is that he was a championship skier growing up", Lotti explains. "He was one of the top ski racers in Italy and a national champion in giant slalom. He also grew up not far from here in the Dolomites".That gave Lotti and team the perfect ingredients for a Nike Atelier project: Sinner the skier, the Games in his home country, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/the-birth-of-acg-the-summit-that-launched-a-legacy" target="_blank">the relaunch of ACG</a> in Milan and Nike introducing A.I.R. apparel innovation with the Air Milano jacket. "The result is something unexpected yet completely authentic to both Sinner and Nike", says Lotti. "Bespoke, ACG-inspired, one-of-one expression that sits at the intersection of sport and culture".

Seen on Jannik in Milan last week, the element-proof, head-turning fit shows everything about that intent. A reminder that sometimes the most compelling design stories begin by paying attention—to the athlete and everything that exists beyond the scoreboard."When a brand invests this much thought and energy into a single moment, it shows they really care about making the athlete feel special. That's one of the biggest reasons why I love being with Nike—they make you feel important", says Sinner. "You try to give positive feedback and grow together in the right direction. We've worked together for years now and feel close, like a family. That's what matters to me".

Collaborating on the head-to-toe ensemble—a bespoke jacket, insulated A.I.R. gilet, tailored trousers and footwear—meant pairing one of the world's best players with Nike's top designers.

Making it

Style Crafted to Brave the Elements: All the Details on Jannik Sinner's Customised Nike Look

About Nike—stories from inside NIKE, Inc.

When South Korean short-track speed skater Minjeong Choi was 6 years old, her family used to receive a Seoul daily newspaper every morning. One day, almost by accident, she saw a flyer in the newspaper's insert, which advertised a winter-break skating programme at the Korea University ice rink near her home. She progressed from the basics of skating to the discipline of short-track speed skating. The distances are comparable to those in athletics, all the way up to 1,500 metres. But the races are lightning-fast, and in the tight, oval confines of the rink, sound technique can mean the difference between first place and last place. (Her memorable anchor leg in the 3,000-metre relay for the 2022 World Championships saw her jump from third place to first on the final curve, winning by just 0.034 seconds ahead of Canada.) Now 27 years old, Minjeong has gone from trying out skating on a whim during her winter break to becoming a three-time Olympic champion, a four-time World Champion and the world record holder in the 1,500 metres, a record she'll defend in Milan. Below, Minjeong shares more about the unique physical challenges of short-track speed skating, the key to staying calm under pressure and why luck and resilience exist on the same continuum.&nbsp; Moving forward again and again is what truly matters in this sport. Short-track speed skating is incredibly demanding. The athletes compete in a variety of distances, both individually and in relays. The races are so dynamic that you need to be able to recover quickly to prepare yourself for the next round or race. Mental resilience is crucial. Things unfold quickly in short track, so you can't afford to dwell on a single mistake or failure.&nbsp;In winter sports, you can't overstate how important it is to be able to access the right environment. My hometown is Seoul, the capital of South Korea. I was born in the very centre of the city. Growing up near such well-established skating facilities made it natural for me to start short-track speed skating and eventually pursue it as a professional career.&nbsp;

I've fallen in love with skating over and over again in my life. I've been skating for over 20 years, and what's guided me to this day is that moment when I first stepped onto the ice at 6 years old. I still vividly remember balancing on the unstable blades, carefully moving my feet while I felt the cold wind rush past me.The pressure of an event like the Olympics reveals the mentors who mean the most to you. I was deeply influenced by our national team head coach during the 2018 season. At age 20, I was competing in my first Olympic games in my home country. I was under immense media pressure and expectation from the public. Everyone around me kept saying I had to prove myself—except my coach. He told me to simply enjoy the moment. Even if I failed, I had my whole career ahead of me. Letting go of the pressure to "succeed" in those rigid terms put me at ease and helped me to compete with a calm mindset.&nbsp;Your defining moments summon a strength you never knew you had. During that relay at the 2022 World Championships, our team was so far behind Canada and the Netherlands, we were barely shown on the screen. When it was my leg to race,&nbsp;something came over me that I couldn't explain. I closed the gap hard. As I came out of the final corner, I crossed the finishing line first. There's an image I've seen on the replay where the Canadian and Dutch skaters put their hands over their faces in disbelief. They never expected the comeback. The impossible became possible.&nbsp;

One way aging as an athlete humbles you is that it forces you to set new goals. It was in the 2024 World Tour season. Many of my European and North American competitors had significantly improved from the time I began my career and they knew my racing tendencies. I was no longer one of the youngest athletes on the tour, but I worked hard to stay competitive physically and mentally, experimenting with different race tactics to develop a style that was truly my own. I finished fourth in the world rankings that year, but I still felt like I achieved a kind of victory.Part of the emotional power of sport comes from knowing the impact we have on our communities. I had won gold in Beijing in 2022. I donated some of my winnings from that season to a relief fund that helped victims affected by the Uljin forest fire. I wanted to give back, even in a small way, to people who were going through very difficult times. I take great pride in representing South Korea. During national moments, I feel a strong responsibility to deliver great performances as an athlete in all different forms.&nbsp;Chance and luck are important, but they are just the starting point. As I started winning when I was a young athlete, I thought it was luck. Soon, competitors started treating me seriously and that pressure made me stronger, helping instill in me a belief in my own ability and preparation. Before every race, I always ask myself, "Have I prepared more than anyone else here? If so, then all I need to do is skate".

Two decades ago, the generational talent was a young girl who saw a fortuitous window to pursue the sport. She's never looked back.

For the win

Minjeong Choi Took a Chance on Short-Track Speed Skating. In Milan, She'll Go for History

If golfer Tony Finau had to name his Flu Game moment, it was during the 2018 Masters. He had just sunk a hole-in-one on the par-3 course at Augusta National. He celebrated by taking off sprinting towards the hole when, improbably, he took an awkward step and dislocated his left ankle (fair warning for anyone who wants to look up the video: it is gnarly). In grimacing pain but undeterred, he popped his ankle back into place himself and resumed play, where he'd complete the week with a top-10 finish. Oh, and two months later, he would make the final group at the US Open. And he'd qualify for his first Ryder Cup. All in a year when he could barely put any pressure on his left foot.Digging deep to test his physical limits is a signature quality of Finau, who joins Jordan Brand this month as the newest member of its golf roster. You wouldn't know any such challenge existed just by looking at him. The lithe 6'4" athlete has one of the most powerful drives on the pro tour, able to crush the ball at over 200mph since he was 17 years old. He was recruited for hoops out of secondary school, and he descends from a proud lineage of skilled Tongan and Samoan athletes, particularly in American football. When his personal calling to golf was too great to ignore, he worked as hard as possible to reach the sport's top level, rolling the dice by auditioning for a reality TV golf show and then undergoing a brutal mini-tour schedule for years that forced him to travel at a ruthless pace across the country. Was it worth it? No question. Below, Finau talks about the twists his career has taken, his moments of greatest perseverance and all things drive.&nbsp; Certain career moments cause you to flip your definition of what winning means. Take that Masters in 2018. It was an incredible moment, that hole-in-one, followed by the most embarrassing moment of my life on national TV. Fast forward to the end of the tournament. I birdied six out of my last seven holes. I shot 66 that Sunday. Walking off the 72nd hole, I truly felt like I won. I felt like somebody should've given me the Green Jacket. In life, we're going to fall down a lot more times than we're going to win. But does that actually mean that we lost? I don't look at it that way.

There'll be windows of your life where you need to gut it out just to see what you're really made of. I turned pro in 2007, but I didn't get onto the PGA Tour until 2013, so there was a six-year period where I had to tough it out on the Mini-Tour life and learn how to play the game, travel and take the small wins where I could. On the Mini-Tour, you're fighting for every dollar, your literal livelihood. There were plenty of nights I slept in my car and I went without eating just so I could scrape by. Those were some of the hardest years of my life, but also some of the greatest, because I learned what I can become with a little bit of sacrifice.&nbsp;Individual sports demand a certain kind of passion. In a sport like golf, you don't have any teammates to lean on. It's just you out there. Some people have a hard time without that team component, but when I started golfing at a young age, I found I really enjoyed the game's individual aspects. It was on me to figure it out, to piece together the ways I could improve. When I got on the golf course, it was a matter of locking in and learning how to focus.Composure has nothing to do with your athletic skill but has everything to do with the life of an athlete. My brother and I went on The Big Break, a reality TV competition on the Golf Channel, in 2009. I was 20 years old at the time. We were around the camera 24/7. Everywhere we went, they were recording us. It was crazy, and it took some getting used to, but I remember leaving that experience and telling myself, "You're going to be a great golfer. This media exposure is how it's going to be if you turn pro". Being on the show got me to the point where it didn't really matter who was watching me. I just needed to stay focused and play my game.&nbsp;Sport was only part of my family's background. Being Polynesian, my mum had a luau show as I was growing up, so I learned how to play a lot of different instruments as a performer in her show. One of the first instruments I learned was the to'ere, which is like a Tahitian drum. I also did traditional Polynesian fire dancing as a kid. Music and dancing were as core to my identity as sport was.&nbsp;It's easy to be an on- and off-switch person. But greatness means being your best at all times of the day, not just when it's convenient. My mum used to tell me, "The way you do one thing is the way you do all things". Golf is just one example. Trying to be great at a game that's impossibly hard, a game you can't perfect, doesn't mean that you stop trying. You keep trying to reach for more out of yourself. I'm trying to be great in all aspects of my life, whether that's on the course, in the gym, being a husband, being a father. I'm trying to push past my own limits in all aspects of my life.&nbsp;

Golfers tend to be pretty superstitious people. One of my rituals is that I wear green every Sunday. My mum, she passed away in 2011—her favourite colour was green. Wearing green is a way I like to honour her, a way to remember she's with me all the time on the course.&nbsp;Joining the Jordan Brand marks a new chapter in my career. Obviously Michael represents excellence at the highest level. Jordan Brand is incredible to be a part of and Michael is an incredible individual to represent. I met him for the first time when I was 17, and during the times I've played at his private course in Florida, The Grove, he's always told me, "Anytime you're in this area, you're welcome here". So in 2024, I'm playing a playoff event. I know I'm going to be in West Palm after the playoffs for a shoot I'm doing with one of my sponsors. My son was with me on the trip, and the thought crossed my mind, "It would be the coolest thing on Earth if I could bring my son to play The Grove". I texted Michael on a whim and asked him. He got back to me 30 seconds later: "We're actually closed for the weekend, but I'll open the course just for you and your son. Please bring him and we'll make it happen". We played 18 holes that day and had the entire course to ourselves, just me and my son. That single experience is something I'll never forget. That's the effect Michael has on people. You can download more images, as well as an accompanying film welcoming Finau to the Jordan Brand family, by clicking <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://media-assets.nike.com/en/pitches/jordan-brand-welcomes-tony-finau-to-its-golf-roster?secret=29e440c91211da0d9af84d3e374afd15" target="_blank">here</a>.

The pro golfer and newest member of the Jordan Brand Golf roster has never backed down from a challenge.

For Tony Finau, Going the Distance is a Mindset

While most of us got through our early years in secondary school trying to blend in, Jane Hedengren remembers wanting to leave her mark: breaking her school's record in the mile. She was 12 years old, new to organised track and intent on sealing the record by the end of the school year. Her father, John, took her to a university track on a cold autumn afternoon for 400-metre repeats to test her capacity. She was trying and failing to hit her splits. That's when John, a former runner at Brigham Young University (BYU), joined her for the workout, cutting through the chilly, high desert air, pulling up the pace but staying near enough to encourage Jane as she willed herself forward. She'd eventually hit those splits, and she'd later break her school's record that spring.&nbsp;Now out of secondary school, Jane Hedengren has established herself as one of the most accomplished amateur distance runners in American history. She arguably had the most dominant secondary school season ever in 2024, male or female, breaking nine secondary school records spanning the mile to the 5K. She'd be the first to say that she hasn't accomplished these feats alone.&nbsp;Along with her family's support, Jane's teammates include those coaches and runners from the Nike Elite Programme, which invites 40 of the nation's top runners to experience the comprehensive training tools provided by Nike coaches all year long, culminating in some of the nation's preeminent meets during the cross-country, indoor and outdoor seasons. All seasons in which Jane dominated.Here, in her own words, she speaks to how that support has set her up for a professional running future and for starting her own university running career at BYU in the autumn.

The indoor and outdoor seasons give you many opportunities to prove yourself. Nike Indoor Nationals this year was special, because I was able to run the 5K for the first time on the track. I had to put myself out there.Good coaches can turn a phrase and get you motivated. During that Nike Indoor Nationals meet, one of my coaches from the Nike Elite Programme, Juli Benson, told me, "I know you're in a good spot. Let's see if you're in a great spot". Then it was like the lesson my dad taught me: you'll see once you're in that last 2K of the race. I was able to close out hard. A lot of good stuff can come from having an open mind and getting the most out of yourself.&nbsp;This year was a season of firsts. Last autumn was my first time at <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/nike-cross-nationals-2024-official-images" target="null">Nike Cross Nationals</a>. It was really exciting to feel as fresh as I did on race day. The field was strong, so I wanted to stay patient, because the course with the weather conditions can be unforgiving. I kept steady early on and maintained my pace. It's special to finish a race and not expect that level of performance out of yourself.

I love how running has different disciplines within it. Cross-country and track are special in their own right, and they're so different. I love how the competition of cross-country takes place in this long, tough terrain. It embodies what running is all about: being out in nature, competing with other runners. Track is really fun for me. It's a bit quicker, and competition also plays a role, but there's a certain thing to be said about trying to hit certain times. You're also able to use a variety of distances as a guardrail to monitor how you're feeling.&nbsp;Your performances aren't the only part of your racing that evolves. Your training changes, too. Strength training has been a big part of my development process. Early on, I was running around 30 miles a week, doing some light workouts here and there with some cross-training. As the years have gone on, I've upped the intensity and volume. This last season, I was doing up to 55 miles a week while doing more intense workouts and feeling good and strong. I think I realised I had a talent probably right around year 11 of secondary school. I had been working and staying more consistent. Plus, no matter how I performed, I always had a love for running. I loved the freedom it afforded me. I could get away from my life's stresses and have this thing I could work toward and use to discover more about myself. That happened as soon as I started running, and it's evolved as I've gotten older and have been more in touch with the sport.&nbsp;

You can always find a new challenge to overcome as you get older. I'm really excited for this next chapter with BYU. I'm open to trying new distances, racing against different competition. I want to try it all. It's great that university isn't just a one-off experience. You learn these lessons over time. I'll have time to get a hold of things, find my rhythm and routine, get to know my teammates, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/women-running-culture-mumbai-india-nike-after-dark-tour" target="null">Coach Diljeet Taylor</a> and the other staff.&nbsp;I've been really careful about thinking too far ahead. People will ask me about aspirations like medalling in the Olympics or finding a prominence on the world stage. Those goals are incredible, obviously, and I'm working toward them, but the truth is, I don't know where I'll be in a few years. What I can focus on right now is keeping myself healthy, enjoying the sport and loving those around me.&nbsp;I'm taking things one step at a time.&nbsp;

Proving her talent across Nike's cross-country, indoor and outdoor championships, Hedengren finished her secondary school career as one of the most accomplished middle- and long-distance runners of all time.

How I got here

Indoors and out, runner Jane Hedengren is rewriting history

Think <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/jordan-brand-luka-4-official-images" target="_blank">Luka Dončić</a> and your mental picture is probably his signature step-back jumper. The unthinkable passes that land perfectly in the hands of his teammates. The creativity under pressure and borderline court omniscience that cause endless headaches for his opponents.You probably know Luka as a fierce competitor who brings a trademark tenacity to each play. A generational talent, fuelled by an expert basketball IQ. A force to be reckoned with, owning every possession and controlling the pace of the game.But Luka, a consummate hooper, also contains multitudes off the court. He loves the serenity of the ocean and grilling a good cut of beef. He's <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@espn/video/7467995779832024362?lang=en" target="null">as comfortable gaming</a> as he is driving to the hoop for a Euro step and if he weren't on the hardwood, he'd choose running point on the gridiron. Above all else, he's incredibly proud of his 1-year-old daughter, Gabriela, whom he considers his greatest inspiration.Here, Luka shares more about his passions away from the game and how they make him a better player, when he knew he was living his childhood dream and the crossover skill between two of his favourite pastimes, fishing and basketball.Getting out on the water is one of my favourite things. My father had some small boats when I was young and we started going out together when I was maybe 7 years old. Today, renting a boat reminds me of my childhood: I love being on the ocean, just relaxing, driving the boat and getting some sun.I enjoy the peace of the ocean—there's so much space and nothing more important than appreciating the views and catching some fish. The last time I was in Mexico I caught a marlin. That was an amazing moment. Probably the coolest thing I've ever caught was a little shark. Once I had a very big fish on the line, battling for seven to 10 minutes but it escaped right under the boat—a definite disappointment.Fishing betters my game and basketball betters my fishing because they both require an essential skill: patience. Mostly, I like to fish to get out on the water, relax and enjoy the sun. But fishing is a reminder of the patience that's required in basketball and in life. You need patience no matter what.

My mentality away from the game is much more relaxed. I think off the court I'm more chill—staying home, enjoying time outside, not talking too much. On the court, I like to talk more and be aggressive; it's&nbsp;working hard and having fun.I was born with an intense competitive drive. Ever since I was a kid, I've been competitive in almost everything I do. That's why it's important for me to compete hard on the court and then to recharge with other hobbies and have time with my family and friends.If I had to pick a position in another sport, I'd love to play quarterback. When I was younger, I played a lot of sports. Basketball was obviously my favourite and I played outdoors almost every day after school. I also tried tennis and&nbsp;football—just being outdoors was fun for me. I've since really grown to like American football and I have a strong arm and great vision, so I think I could QB pretty well.When I'm not training or competing, I like to go out and grill, usually a good steak and some corn. I normally cook out when it's sunny, which helps me relax with my family and recharge for my training and busy schedule during the season.My daughter brings me the most pride of anything in the world. She's my greatest supporter in life, even if she doesn't know it yet. That drives me every day. She's 15 months old and I love spending time with her and playing with her.I remember when I realised I was living my childhood dream. I left my home when I was 12 years old to go alone and play for Real Madrid. I was just settling in during my first year with the team. But in my second year, I started to come into my own. Playing for the best basketball club in Europe, that's how I knew I was making my dreams a reality.I don't usually get nervous before games. But when I do feel some nerves, like before my first home game with the Lakers, I tell myself to remember that I'm good at what I do—I just need to go through my routine and do what I do best.The best advice I return to is simple: have fun, especially on the basketball court. When something doesn't go as planned, I just remember: "You've been doing this your whole life. You know how to do it. Go out there and have fun".

The Los Angeles Lakers guard goes deep on fishing, grilling and the secret to staying sane on the court.

Luka Dončić is more than just one of the best players in the league

Five games into his professional career, on his third-straight away game, Victor Wembanyama was already at home in the NBA. He scored 38 points, grabbed 10 boards and put up two blocks by the end of the night. At season's end, he'd average nearly four blocks a game, leading the league.&nbsp;Victor is all unreal numbers. The 20-year-old's&nbsp;7'4" frame swallows every square inch of the court. Offensively, he's fluid and mobile. Defensively, he's a one-man zone, able to turn away opposing fast breaks through his size and his stare. Evaluating rookies in the NBA is usually a challenge of evaluating their floor. At a minimum, what can this player become? He entered the league and instantly, the question was how high his ceiling might be—or whether there was one.&nbsp;Here, Victor answers our questions on what it takes to win—from transcending his own limits to banishing fear from his life. I knew from an early age the kind of professional I wanted to be. There's a lot of things we have to do as pro athletes that people in other jobs don't need to worry about, like getting enough sleep after you play a back-to-back and fly to a different time zone. I decided I need to get better sleep. When I start my dinnertime meal, my alarm for the next morning is already set on my phone and I'm not going to use my phone for the rest of the night.&nbsp;I'm lucky in that I can say I'm competing for multiple places. Wearing the France national jersey is one of the strongest feelings I know. In the NBA, I'm attached to the city of San Antonio. I'm a part of it. They've welcomed me.&nbsp;

All my life, I've been much taller than everyone on the court. So, when coaches saw me doing dribbles through the legs and doing fadeaways and stuff, their first reflex was to tell me not to do it. All my life, there's been this pressure to put me in a box. It's been the toughest battle I've fought my whole life. Now, I do have more freedom than before, but I'm convinced that my freedom wouldn't be here without my efforts to go against those stereotypes.Here's what I'd tell any kid who's struggling with something:&nbsp;when I was 12 years old, I went through a discouraging period. I was having trouble with my shot during my games. I obviously was growing a lot at that time and I was even skinnier than I am now, so I had trouble getting my shot off consistently against defenders. My coach told me, "When you're a professional, you'll be working on the present. But right now, you're working for the future".&nbsp;Seeing a kid wear my jersey is special. Any time I catch highlights of our games, I like watching the reactions in the stands and you naturally see the kids who are wearing your jersey. It's not the first thing you think about when you become an NBA player, but you realise you can positively influence the next generation through something you love. It's beautiful.&nbsp;It really saddens me when I see a lack of ambition from people. Usually, it comes from being scared and thinking "I'm not enough". Assuming that things are too big or too ambitious are things I've decided to banish from my life.At the end of the day, it's on you to define what your goals are in life, what you want to become. Winning is accomplishing those things that matter most to you.&nbsp;

I want to help create a new era of dominance for French basketball. That involves promoting the sport and making it more popular in the country for our youth. For professional basketball in France, I think our potential doesn't match our current investment. How can we improve our facilities? How can we train the best staff? We just need to match our potential and foster our pool of talent that's already here. France has the brightest future of any country in the world for basketball.Someone asked me how I make sure my name doesn't grow bigger than the Spurs organisation. That will never happen. The team wants me to succeed and be the best I can be. They've made a lot of sacrifices for me. I want the whole organisation to know how much I understand all that they've done. Sometimes, it's a little thing like sending a text or welcoming someone new to the organisation. I try to show people their worth in all they do. I'm not scared to grow bigger than them, because I want to make the Spurs as big as I can. I want to give back to them as much as possible.&nbsp;I don't think anyone could have a higher expectation for me than I have for myself. So, it's really no big deal when I hear people call me a once-in-a-generation player. The only people to whom I have something to prove are my coach and my team. Even my parents don't have expectations for me; they just want me to be happy. When I don't want to see all that pressure, I turn off my phone. It's as simple as that, but there's really no pressure or expectations. I never felt like I had something to owe to the world. I'm just playing basketball.

The 20-year-old phenom speaks to transcending his own limits, banishing fear from his life, turning off his phone and more.

The legend of Victor Wembanyama is growing

Editor's Picks

Story Landing

What is Air? You could say it's nothing—invisible, immaterial—but you could also say it's everything. And trust us, you know it when you feel it. Nike first put Air cushioning into a runner's step back in 1978 and never looked back. In fact, we keep pushing it, for elite athletes, everyday runners and everyone in between. Yes, we are totally, one hundred percent obsessed. Air is Nike innovation at its best. But it keeps getting better. So you can keep getting faster. And the women who Win On Air wouldn't have it any other way.

Sha'Carri Richardson

The American 100-metre champion wears the Nike Air Zoom Maxfly 2. Compared with the original Maxfly, the 2024 spike offers a more stable ride with more ground contact, while still giving that pop of energy return only Nike Air can provide. <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-official-images-maxfly2-victory2-gthustle3-2024-mercurial" rel="noopener noreferrer">Check out how it's changing how fast athletes can run</a>.

Salma Paralluelo

The Spanish footballer is pictured with the Nike Mercurial Vapor. The Nike team fine-tuned the Mercurial franchise's Air innovations, leading to the 2024 Mercurial delivering 10% more energy return than the 2022 Mercurial. <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-official-images-maxfly2-victory2-gthustle3-2024-mercurial" rel="noopener noreferrer">Learn more about the updated boot</a>.

Athing Mu

The American 800-metre runner wears the Nike Pegasus 41—a flagship shoe that now has more bounce, more cushion and more energy return. <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-pegasus-41-official-images" rel="noopener noreferrer">Find out what it can do for you</a>.

Beatriz Hatz

The American long-jumper and sprinter wears the Nike Pegasus EasyOn. The shoe is designed for athletes of all abilities, featuring a collapsible heel and toggle lacing system that allows athletes to easily slip in and out of their shoes. <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-pegasus-41-official-images" rel="noopener noreferrer">See more of the Pegasus family silhouettes</a>.

Sifan Hassan

The Dutch marathoner races in the Nike Alphafly 3, the lightest and most tested Alphafly ever. The shoe's new continuous-bottom sole helps provide a smoother heel-to-toe transition, no matter where your foot strikes or what your pace is. <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-alphafly-3-official-images-release-date" rel="noopener noreferrer">Find out more about how it can better your run.</a>

Akouc Chany

The American 800-metre runner wears the Nike Pegasus 41, featuring forefoot and heel units of Nike's proprietary Air cushioning. <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-air-blueprint-pack-official-images" rel="noopener noreferrer">Check out the incredible ways we innovate with Air.</a>

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

The competitive advantage for athletes like Beatriz Hatz, Sifan Hassan and Sha'Carri Richardson? Shoes, boots and spikes with our proprietary cushioning technology.

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

Brand of athletes

Women who win on Nike Air

In the late 1950s, veteran athletics coach Bill Bowerman was dissatisfied with available running spikes, which were made from weighty leather and metal. As a result, he became obsessed with shaving weight off the shoes to help runners slash seconds off their times. His quest wound up redefining athletic footwear.&nbsp; Prior to this feat, Bowerman's drive and relentless curiosity had precipitated a string of diverse accomplishments: born in 1911 in Portland, Oregon, he excelled as a student-athlete while attending the University of Oregon and later gained acclaim as a high-school American football and track coach. He fought in World War II and came back a decorated hero. In 1948, Bowerman returned to his university alma mater and, during his 24-year tenure, led the university to four NCAA track titles and coached 16 sub-four-minute milers. He also introduced jogging to the community of Eugene in the 1960s, which helped spark a national phenomenon, and he served as the US Olympic track coach in 1972.

Bowerman was also a mentor, coach and friend to Phil Knight, with whom he co-founded&nbsp;Blue Ribbon Sports, the precursor to Nike, in 1964. His confidence and counsel helped the company's original business model—importing and selling Japanese-made&nbsp;<a href="https://store.nike.com/us/en_us/pw/running-shoes/8yzZoi3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">running shoes</a>&nbsp;—to succeed and grow.&nbsp;However, Bowerman's own footwear innovations proved even more influential, shaping Nike's ethos of leveraging athlete insights to design transformative products.

Building a better shoe

Bowerman first began tinkering with running shoes in the 1950s, when he wrote to several footwear companies proposing ideas for improving shoes to better serve runners. None accepted his recommendations. Frustrated but not deterred, Bowerman took matters into his own hands and, with the guidance of a local cobbler, learnt how to make shoes. To start, he deconstructed existing racing shoes with his band saw and examined their anatomy. Then, he toyed with metal and plastic spike plates and assembled various uppers over diverse lasts. Later, a Springfield-based boot maker provided technical advice and showed Bowerman how to craft shoe patterns.&nbsp;

Phil Knight became the first student-athlete to try a Bowerman original. In a letter to Knight dated 8 August 1958, Bowerman suggested a weight-training programme and running schedule. He closed the letter with a postscript: "If you have a pair of shoes that you think would make good flats, send them down to me. They will be ready for you when school starts". Bowerman fitted a handmade pair with an upper made from white rubber-coated fabric—"the kind you'd use for a tablecloth you could sponge off", he explained—to Knight's size. Knight says Bowerman chose him to try the shoes because he "wasn't one of the best runners on the team. Bowerman knew he could use me as a guinea pig without much risk".&nbsp; Whatever the reasoning, the young runner tested the shoes at training one evening but didn't get to wear them for long. His teammate Otis Davis spotted the prototype and wanted to give it a try. He liked the shoes so much he didn't give them back. In fact, Davis went on to win a conference championship and a gold medal in the 400 metres at the 1960 Olympic Games in Bowerman-made shoes. Moving forwards, Bowerman custom fit shoes to his runners by drawing an outline of their feet, measuring widths and noting individual features, such as an extended heel or slim ankle. He experimented with dozens of textiles—kangaroo leather, velvet, deer hide, snakeskin and even fish skin—to find the ideal lightweight, stretchy and resilient material, churning out new creations on a weekly basis. As his prototypes grew more refined and reliable, he continued to seek alliances with footwear companies, to no avail. In an August 1960 letter to a Portland company requesting steel for spikes, Bowerman wrote: "Most American shoemakers are not interested in what we track coaches think about track shoes. The best shoes … at this time are made by the Germans. Their sole material is not too good, and I can either replace their sole or I can make my own shoe. I don't think there is any question, certainly in my own mind there is not, that I now have the best shoe in the world—if I could just find some good American shoemaker to make it".

A shoe in the door

This opportunity finally arrived when Knight forged a relationship with Onitsuka in 1964, based on the belief that less expensive Japanese-made running shoes could perform as well as standard-bearer German shoes. Subsequently, he and Bowerman invested 50–50 in the business of importing and selling running shoes, opening a path for Bowerman's own ideas. The coach expressed his optimism in a letter to Onitsuka in May 1964: " I hope that your arrangements with Mr Knight would be such that I would be free to turn over the ideas that I have worked out on track shoes&nbsp;".Bowerman spent the following summer designing and in October travelled with his wife, Barbara, to Tokyo for the 1964 Olympics Games, where three of his Oregon runners were competing. The couple stayed an extra week so that Bowerman could meet with Onitsuka founder and CEO Kihachiro Onitsuka as well as S Morimoto, a company executive. Bowerman explained his ideas and toured factories to study the cutting and stitching machines. He gained confidence in the Japanese shoemaking process and established relationships with the two leaders, ensuring a receptive audience for his future prototypes and suggestions.

The dawn of Cortez

Bowerman's first breakthrough with Tiger shoes surfaced the following spring, in 1965, as the indirect result of an athletics competition. At the competition, University of Oregon distance runner and future Olympic marathoner Kenny Moore moved wide in an 880-metre race, into the path of a passing teammate. The misstep resulted in a spike-inflicted gash on the outside of his foot. That injury led to a stress fracture and one of Bowerman's most enduring inventions. Early in Moore's recovery, the runner trained in the Onitsuka Tiger TG-22, a high-jump shoe that Blue Ribbon Sports mistakenly sold as a running shoe. When Moore's X-ray showed a break across the third metatarsal, Bowerman asked to see his shoes and promptly ripped them apart. They had spongy cushioning in the heel and forefoot but zero arch support. "If you set out to engineer a shoe to bend metatarsals until they snap, you couldn't do much better than this", Bowerman growled. "Not only that, the outer sole rubber wears away like cornbread".&nbsp; To correct the TG-22, Bowerman fashioned a running shoe with a cushiony innersole, soft sponge rubber in the forefoot and on the top of the heel, hard sponge rubber in the middle of the heel and a firm rubber outsole. In June 1965, he sent Onitsuka instructions and samples for the shoe.

A month later, Morimoto responded, confirming that he was producing a training shoe to the specifications. But, Onitsuka had "some opinion as to the inserted sponge rubber in the heel". Despite the objections, Bowerman pushed for the placement of sponge rubber in the heel, stating that it would help alleviate Achilles tendon issues. That summer, Moore rebounded from his stress fracture and logged more than 1,000 miles in Bowerman's latest creations. Early Onitsuka prototypes featured two distinct pads in the heel and the ball of the foot, and a narrow heel. This eventually morphed into the full-length midsole Bowerman had originally conceived, a feature that ultimately became a major selling point for the shoe.Consequently, Onitsuka introduced the Bowerman-engineered Tiger Cortez, which an early 1967 catalogue explained as: "Designed to be the finest long-distance shoe in the world. Soft sponge midsole through ball and heel absorbs road shock; high-density outer sole for extra miles of wear".

Consumers loved it. The Cortez was the first stable, comfortable shoe for the roads. It looked cool and debuted as running emerged as an American pastime, popularised by Bowerman and his 1967 book "Jogging". And when Knight and Bowerman stopped importing and distributing running shoes through Blue Ribbon Sports and launched Nike as a designer and maker of athletic shoes, the Cortez silhouette carried over to the new brand. It also earned Bowerman a patent for its innovative continuously cushioned midsole. In July 1973, Runner's World called the Nike Cortez "the most popular long-distance training shoe in the US".

1973 Nike Cortez ad

1977 Nike Cortez tradition ad

Waffle windfall

The Cortez, however, was just the first of Bowerman's celebrated inventions, which came to comprise eight registered patents, including shoes with an external heel counter, improved spike placement and a cushioned spike plate. It was also just the first success in his enduring quest to create the lightest running shoe possible.&nbsp;"He thought running shoes could be better", Nike's first full-time employee Jeff Johnson says about Bowerman's early&nbsp;innovations. "He challenged accepted notions of traction, cushioning, biomechanics&nbsp;and even of anatomy itself".Bowerman next sought to manifest a shoe with excellent traction on multiple surfaces, without metal spikes. The solution came over breakfast in 1970, as he&nbsp;contemplated the syrup-cradling depressions of the waffle on his plate. "What if you reversed the pattern and formed a material with raised waffle-grid nubs?", he wondered. He subsequently commandeered the family waffle maker and substituted batter for melted urethane. Unfortunately, Bowerman initially forgot to grease the waffle maker with an anti-stick agent, and it glued shut. Despite this setback, he persevered&nbsp;and fashioned a flexible, springy and lightweight rubber material with a raised, gridded pattern and grip traction.&nbsp;The Blue Ribbon Sports crew raced to debut the Waffle sole at the upcoming 1972 US Olympic athletics trials in Eugene. They had nylon uppers flown in from Japan to pair with Waffle soles hand-cut from sheets of rubber made in Eugene. Early Blue Ribbon Sports employee Geoff Hollister glued the components together, creating shoes for a handful of trial competitors to wear during training or on the infield at the Hayward Field athletics stadium.The hand-built shoes were dubbed the Moon Shoe due to the distinctive imprint they made in the dirt, which resembled the lunar footprints left behind by American astronauts during the era's historic Apollo missions. The first iterations were crude, but runners liked the feel and traction of the Waffle sole and word of the invention quickly spread. Bowerman further refined the concept and developed the iconic Waffle Trainer in 1974.&nbsp;

The rubber studs of the Waffle sole offered give and cushioning that appealed to both elite athletes and everyday runners. The shoes, as TIME magazine wrote, were "grabbed by the army of weekend jocks suffering from bruised feet". The Waffle Trainer placed Nike on the global athletic footwear map, setting the stage for unparalleled growth. Bowerman's legacy as an original thinker and innovator will forever be linked with the Waffle sole, which like many brilliant inventions is so simple and intuitive it resonates immediately and broadly. Versions of it are still employed today in Nike footwear, as are Bowerman's many other contributions to running shoe innovation, including the raised heel, the nylon upper and the continuous midsole.&nbsp;Nike's footwear ideal has evolved, but Bowerman's preoccupation with creating products that enable athletes to perform at their highest potential continues to fuel Nike's culture of innovation. Contemporary examples can be found in footwear technologies such as the Nike Free articulated outsole and the compressive woven-in support of Nike Flyknit uppers.&nbsp;

Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman's quest to create footwear to improve athlete performance is a driving force for Nike's ever-evolving approach to product innovation.

Innovation

Feature

Bill Bowerman: Nike's original innovator

Interview by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lynettesaid/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LYNETTE NYLANDER</a>&nbsp;It's funny the assumptions we carry around—about others, about ourselves—often without even realising it. Naomi Osaka is a renegade of the tennis court and four-time major title winner, but admits that she is personally quite reserved (and always has been). Yoon Ahn, a cultural catalyst and Nike Women's Global Curator, classifies herself as an introvert. In other words, the inside isn't always the outside.&nbsp;So what happens when Naomi and Yoon get together? A meeting of the minds, good energy and a conversation that defies all expectations. (Watch out, world!) Lynette Nylander sits down with Naomi and Yoon to talk about what it means for both of them to perform on the biggest stage in the world and the disarming surprise of finding strength in softness.

LYNETTE NYLANDER How did you two first connect?NAOMI OSAKA I always loved streetwear. When I would go to New York, I would always go to the little boutiques. There was a poster for [Yoon's] collaboration with Nike, a fur jacket, but they weren't selling it, so I couldn't buy it! But I did a deep dive into her work and I've been a really big fan ever since then.YOON AHN Thank you. I think for me, it has to be that moment when Naomi won her first major title in New York. That's when I was like, "Oh, wait. She's from Japan!" I was so proud that there was someone coming out of Japan.LYNETTE I don't think anyone could ever forget that moment. It was just so amazing to see two women in such admiration and support of one another. And I think that's the difference in women's sports. Win or lose, everyone's so in support of one another.NAOMI Collaboration is important, because obviously, I'm a tennis player, and I play singles. So most people think I do everything by myself. But I travel with a team. And in a way, I feel like I'm collaborating with them in the sense that I'm the vehicle for all the hard work we do behind the scenes. People can't push boundaries by themselves. You have to work with people to get further.YOON I approach every project as a way to learn something new, to do something I've never done before. Naomi and I kept coming back to our roots. Both of us are from Japan. Things we like about Japan. We found ourselves vibing soft and approachable.

LYNETTE From what I understand about tennis and what you're allowed to wear, it's still pretty traditional. So it must be really exciting that you can now work with designers and bring your heritage and your culture and your style to your work.NAOMI I've always been the kid that's really into fashion. I've always felt like tennis clothes don't have to be so limited. It's a very beautiful sport, and it would be cool to also wear beautiful pieces. New York always feels like a stage to me. Similar to how singers wear costumes. I almost feel like with the bright lights on you, you need to wear a costume and showcase your ability.LYNETTE Is there a different energy?NAOMI Yeah, for me, the energy of New York always feels like showtime. Especially during the night matches. I think people just want to be entertained and they want to see good matches. In most tennis crowds, people are very quiet, but the New York crowd—you can feel the energy bouncing off them. So it's really fun. Last year, obviously, I didn't play, but I got to watch from the stands. And it was actually really fun.LYNETTE I think across disciplines, it feels like women in sport are finally getting the flowers that they deserve. It really shows right now. Why do you feel like culture has finally caught up with women in sports?NAOMI That's a tough question for me, just because I'm so infused with sport. I feel like people have just started paying attention to the WNBA. And I know Sha'Carri is really bringing a lot of attention to running. But I've really grown up watching sports.YOON This progression that the world needs is long overdue, but I'm glad things are changing rapidly. More than half of the world's population are women. Women getting the spotlight, not just in sports, is necessary, as many systems have been built through the male gaze. It's exciting to see more diverse prominent personalities rising in different cultures all across the world.NAOMI With more time, I think bigger and better things will continue to happen.

LYNETTE You both lead incredibly busy lives. Naomi, you just had a baby, and you've got your huge career. And Yoon, you take on multiple projects in addition to Ambush and Nike. How do you stay, like, mentally prepared and engaged all the time? I want to know!NAOMI I'm a very curious person, and that just leads me to so many different things in life. I don't typically think about being busy. I feel like my curiosity is kind of getting me everywhere. My projects are things that I love to learn about. I'm obviously not a master. The only thing that I would say that I'm a master of is tennis.YOON The way I look at it, these opportunities are given to you. It's a chance for me to try something and learn something new, right? I'm not the type of person who likes to do the same thing over again. So when chances come, I just like to dive in. I feel like a kid in a toy shop. Give me all this and I'm gonna play with everything.

LYNETTE I think of you as women who are able to colour outside the lines. How would you encourage someone else to do the same in their creative practice?NAOMI I tend to go back to just being proud of who you are. I grew up being a really shy kid— I am still really shy. So, I never used to voice my opinions or even think I was worthy enough to have an opinion. One day, something clicked where I just figured that I had a voice and I wanted to use it—whether it's using it to say what I like, what I don't like or to stand up for what I think is right. And I feel like that's also part of you being you. Everyone sees things differently.YOON I was much more of an introvert, I guess. I was trying to meet other people's energy. I was just into spending time by myself, learning things. I spent a lot of time in the library escaping mentally, indulging in magazines and wondering what the world was like out there. Because I grew up like that, whatever chances are given to me, I am just excited that I get to explore different things. Life's too short to just sit and ponder. It's better to do it and regret it than not do it and regret it.

The tennis star and iconic designer on pushing boundaries in sport, style and life.

Naomi & Yoon: their game to change

Like training in the gym, eating your greens and unplugging to clear your mind, your style—what you wear and how you wear it—can stoke positive energy, for yourself and everyone around you. It's a daily way to <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/nike-stylist-gabriella-karefa-johnson-on-self-expression" rel="noopener noreferrer">express who you are</a>. That's true whether you're a competitor, a coach or a fan. As fitness athlete Tunde Oyeneyin puts it, "How I choose to dress is how I choose to show up in the world—it can make me feel fierce, like a boss, like I command the room. When my clothes make me feel the way that I want to feel, it's like I'm pushing out the energy that I want to come back to me". Here, seven Nike athletes,&nbsp;captured in Paris ahead of Vogue World,&nbsp;share what their personal style gives them—on the court, on the track, on the pitch and in everyday life.

Feel confident in what you wear, and you bring that energy into every part of your life.

7 Nike athletes on how style fuels them

If you toe the starting line against Jakob Ingebrigtsen, he will beat you. The Norwegian middle-distance runner says it with a casual coolness, and yet his accolades reflect a talent that's dead serious. When he was 16 years old, Jakob became the youngest man in history to run a mile in less than four minutes. Now the 23-year-old is one of the world leaders in both the mile and the 5,000 metres.He attributes his supreme confidence to his insane competitive drive against his two older brothers, who pushed him to become one of running's brightest, most accomplished stars. Here, Jakob talks about competition, goals and the attitude it takes to win.Competition, not sport, was our family's first love. When it came to us finding running, none of our parents did any kind of sport. But because we're a big family, us boys are always finding ways to compete with each other and running was an immediate way to settle the score.Siblings are worthy of both your emulation and envy. When I was young, saying that I wanted to be like my brother was synonymous with saying, "I want to beat them".At the same time, when your family wins, you win. I remember when I saw Henrik crying when Filip won the World Championships in 2017. Henrik told me he had the exact same reaction when I won at the summer games. Weirdly, we feel like we're part of each other's process when we achieve some kind of success.I've brought a professional approach to running since I was 5 years old. I'd have a mental routine going before my races by the time I was in Year 2. My&nbsp; friends were wearing flip-flops. I was wearing a speed suit. The most important thing in my life was to win my races.

Even as a kid, you sense that your country has a national sport. We're not a big running nation. Growing up in Norway, running wasn't cool—I never talked about it at school. That's global football and cross-country skiing. We focused on running as we got older, but we grew up playing everything, especially snow sports. Now, we're breaking barriers for our country. We're the new running nation. &nbsp;The competitive side of running is even more important than the physical aspects. Henrik and I both learnt from our older brother being, ahem, sort of arrogant and, uh, cocky in some ways. He always went into a race thinking he could win, even when he was way slower than the rest of the field. But he inspired the two of us to build our own confidence. If he gets a bronze, I'm naturally going to get silver or gold.Running is a lonely sport, so when you have moments when you're challenging another runner to do something historic, those stick with you. My brothers and I trained with <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-and-eliud-kipchoge-celebrate-20-years" rel="noopener noreferrer">Eliud Kipchoge</a> for <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/inside-look-at-nike-breaking2-project" rel="noopener noreferrer">Breaking2</a>. Seeing the level of athletes who trained alongside him was crazy. At the end of the day, we all have the same goal: to see how fast human beings can go at different distances. We're competing for that honour, but we're also united by that competition.The most important thing that younger runners can do is to set goals for themselves. For me, it was to beat my brothers, and by doing that, I became one of the best runners in the world. &nbsp;Doing what everyone else is doing is boring. By running in Norway, I was the weird kid. Now I'm winning medals. &nbsp;

For the world-champion middle-distance runner, winning is a family business.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen on beating his brothers—and everybody else

Boxer Cindy Ngamba remembers the first time she sparred against a training partner at her home boxing club in the English town of Bolton. She was 18 years old. Her competitor, a towering male boxer, wound back and hit Cindy with a fierce backhand, sending her to the floor. She bounced back up and brought her fists to her face. "Good shot", she said through her mouth guard. The gym's coach, Dave Langone, watched from outside the ring. "This girl is crazy", he muttered to himself.&nbsp;Six years later, Cindy is already a three-time UK national champion in three different weight classes. She is also one of 33 competitors on the <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/championing-all-athletes-nike-teams-with-olympic-refuge-foundation" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="ql-size-small">Olympic Refugee Team</a>, a group of athletes from across the world who will compete in Paris without an official host country. Cindy was born in Cameroon, later moving to the UK at age 11 in search of a brighter future. No setback will deny Cindy her place in the ring—because the sport means so much more to her than championship titles. Here, Cindy speaks to her fierce determination, worldwide community and unwavering confidence as she prepares for Paris.I'm representing the millions of refugees in the world who are one big family. My main sense of identity is found in the refugee team. The 33 of us athletes who will compete in Paris need to go in and fight for our place, just like we've always done.&nbsp;Combat sports have very unique qualities compared with other sports. One way boxing is different is how you need to get used to moving your own body while countering the movement of the competitor in front of you. You have to get used to the momentum of your body against theirs. That's why sparring is one of the most important training tools you can use as a boxer.&nbsp;Sometimes the best coaches are the ones who can change their minds. My current coach, Dave Langone, is the same person who coached me at the beginning of my career. Originally, he didn't believe in female boxing. Now, having watched me achieve so much success in my career, he doesn't just believe in female boxing. He knows he's coaching the best female in the world.&nbsp;Momentary setbacks can be your advantage. Being the only female in my gym is something I've always been used to. When I first started boxing in Bolton, the coaches told me that all I could do was skip and shadow box off to the side of the ring; they didn't think I could handle true sparring. I did that for almost three years. Once I proved myself, I was part of the community. In fact, I felt like being around men made me stronger mentally and physically.&nbsp;Boxing is an individual sport, but it's built around community. You meet new people all around the world, international competitors from different countries, and you become family. You learn about other traditions, other cultures, other languages.

As an athlete, you need to have habits that bring you back down to reality. One of my rituals during competition is to wear two different coloured socks. People have an issue with wearing odd things. I started wearing two different socks just to annoy people, to have some fun [big laugh]. But as I kept doing it, I realised I'm the type of person who likes to wear what I wear and I don't care what other people think. Now, I consider my socks my good-luck charm.&nbsp;Winning is the result of making small adjustments. Last year at the European Games in Poland, I finished in second place. I was proud of how I competed, but not just because I medalled. I realised midway through one of my matches that I was over-thinking my technique, I wasn't letting my body flow or relax. Winning in that moment meant letting my body take over. I understood a small mentality adjustment I needed to make to succeed.Victory is the prize for all of your hard work. It's the prize after crossing many, many barriers and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.I want the next generation to know that listening is a big key to your success. Listen to your coaches when they say something, and don't act like you know it all. Even the best in the world don't know it all.&nbsp;

The three-time UK national champion and Olympic Refugee competitor is battling for a cause bigger than herself.  

Boxer Cindy Ngamba is ready to fight to the finish

Growing up in Southern Kenya, Mary Ngugi's earliest memories of her mother were of her daily trips to the local river to gather water for her Kikuyu community, located outside Nairobi. The middle-distance champion remembers how rigidly defined her mother's life was, limited primarily to domestic duties. As Ngugi grew older, she worried that her own path to adulthood would be limited to the societal roles of wife and motherhood. So at 17 years old, when her running coach asked her if she wanted to join his local team, she immediately said yes.Mary quickly became one of Kenya's most promising distance runners, winning the 5,000 metres at the African national junior championships in 2007. And yet, in the midst of her success, she witnessed the still narrow options given to female runners, a reality that stems from the male-dominated training camp and athletics club experience.&nbsp; "What looks like a good path for promising female runners can be a traumatising experience, especially for younger girls", says Mary.&nbsp;"They're manipulated into making concessions—schooling, permanent housing and motherhood, among others—&nbsp;for the sake of their athletic careers".In response, Mary was inspired to create Nala Track Club, a female-only organisation founded in 2022 and based in Nyahururu city. Mary wanted to help provide young Kenyan women an opportunity for success in semi-professional running through a supportive and safe training camp experience.

Restoring dignity

Nala Track Club aims to serve the complete person, not just the athlete, Mary says, adding that the roots of inequality among female and male athletes are viewing people as a fulfilment of skills that will benefit the party in power.&nbsp; "Athletes are not simply the sum of their performances. Our runners need to know that we care for them as human beings", Mary says. "They matter as human beings far before they join our team, far before they compete in a race. If we only serve their athletic careers, we're missing the most important parts of their dignity as individuals, which has nothing to do with their success in sport".Mary wanted to flip the script. Nala Track Club needed to offer services that unequivocally took care of the most basic human needs, like food, shelter and education. No trade-offs, no concessions. With a holistic treatment of athletes, though, comes real financial costs, many of which are easy to miss, says Ngugi. Take an athlete travelling home for Christmas—they need transportation. Who helps pay the cost? Or what about an unexpected hospital visit? These less obvious costs are joined by others that go into providing for basic human needs, such as food, shelter and education. Providing a comprehensive athlete training camp experience adds up.

Nike is committed to serving the next generation of female runners, of all abilities and backgrounds. With that aim in mind, the company is partnering with Nala Track Club, a female-only club in Kenya founded by Nike athlete Mary Ngugi.

Located in Nyahururu city and founded in 2022, the organisation seeks to create pathways for young women to succeed in running at the semi-professional level by providing a holistic, supportive and safe training camp experience.

"Female runners in Kenya don't enjoy the widespread freedoms that men have", says Ngugi. "Promising female runners often need to make incredible sacrifices if they want to run at a high level, like foregoing schooling altogether. I created Nala Track Club to fight against the inequality I see around me".

In addition to coaching development, Nike's support will also help fund new in-residence scholarship opportunities at Nala Track Club for promising Kenyan female runners.

Partnering together

Nike representatives approached Mary last year about the possibility of <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-nala-track-club-partnership" rel="noopener noreferrer">partnering with Nala Track Club</a> to help with some of the programme's most critical overhead costs. Other money would go towards two key goals that align with Mary's hopes for the future of Kenya's female runners: developing more qualified female coaches in Kenya, and helping fund more in-residence scholarship opportunities for runners. These areas of investment connect back to Mary's beliefs about representation. You can't be what you can't see. If more young girls see a path for becoming a coach, embodied in a figure from their real life, they're more likely to pursue the career. Witnessing these alternative paths can open up a world of options for young girls.&nbsp;Mary scrutinised other details of the modern training camp experience. She wanted girls to see themselves reflected in the many occupations that the adults in the camp held, even if those jobs weren't directly tied to athletics. Chris Cooper, a photographer from Europe and Mary's husband. He remembers a conversation he had with Mary about bringing in more female photographers to chronicle the camp experience.&nbsp;"Mary insisted on that from the early days", says Cooper. "We asked ourselves, 'What impression is this giving if the girls only see a white male from Europe taking our photos? Let's train more female photographers in-house so that these girls can picture themselves being photographers too". The same approach held true for occupations like physiotherapists, or physios. Rather than enlisting male physios to join the camp, Mary and her staff sought out female physios so young girls could see themselves in careers outside the world of pro athletes.&nbsp; Reflecting on the impact of Nike's partnership, Mary calls the relationship "life-changing". "The cost of running the camp is very demanding", says Ngugi. "I'm entrusted to feed these girls, to give them a place to live. Nike stepping in to help changed everything. We're able to absorb those costs, and we're also able to take in more girls to our camp, in addition to expanding the programme's impact by training coaches. Their help was everything we needed".

A different kind of victory

What else can female runners expect from the camp? A fully funded education, including courses on the business of sport, English lessons twice a week, on-site medical visits and more. Mary wants to give other girls the freedom to see life as more than a binary decision—go to this camp or become a mother; run professionally or receive schooling. For Nala Track Club to be successful, the measurement shouldn't be the number of runners who qualify to compete at the international level. No record broken will justify its existence.&nbsp;

"Winning is more than crossing the finishing line in first place", Mary says. "Many people have won at the top levels of their sport, and they've been forgotten. What makes people remember you is when you touch their lives. Nala Track Club will win if it changes lives. That's what we're working to do".

The decorated distance runner saw a brighter future for the country's budding female runners. Alongside Nike, she's blazing a new trail for them.

Mary Ngugi is transforming the women's running camp experience in Kenya

In April 2020, at 8pm on most weeknights, Fanny Ho sat at a desk in her guest room toggling between her laptop, her sewing machine and the prototype of the nursing sports bra she was stitching together and testing on herself. The world had plunged into an anxious paralysis, but she and her Nike teammates were charging ahead on an urgent need: <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">give mothers the ultimate support system</a>. Specifically, create a sports bra that would allow them to do the movement they wanted while accommodating a wearable breast pump, all without compromising performance or comfort."When you're going through something like Covid, you pivot to what you believe will make the most impact", says Ho, Senior Manager in Design Innovation. Like so many people, Ho was getting through the pandemic by trading parenting shifts with her husband; she'd work for a couple of hours, switch into mum mode, go back to work, then hop back online after dinner and bedtime. "Dividing my day like that, I found myself asking, what project can I tackle that could help support people like me?"Ho knew from personal experience that, for active mothers who breastfed and pumped and wanted a sports bra that could accommodate both, the market had little to offer. What's more, motherhood can often force a significant drop-off in sport and pumping can create a huge challenge; mothers often have to sit still for hours a day. While the maternity space is saturated with nursing bras, Ho and the Nike team found that the few performance nursing bras out there were either too stretchy and didn't offer support or were too structured and couldn't accommodate the volume of a hands-free breast pump or the hourly fluctuations of a nursing mother's breasts. "We spoke to countless women who said they were always having to compromise between comfort and support, and nothing out there could give them both", she says.Faced with a clear gap and need, Ho did what passionate women, passionate mothers and passionate Nike employees do—move as quickly as possible towards a solution.

Innovation against the odds

Aside from the world shutting down, Ho faced another major challenge—she'd never designed a bra before."I've been a footwear designer for 17 years, and this was uncharted territory for me. I had to find my fellow Nike passion partners in the apparel space, and there was a lot of learning on the go", she says. "But that also made it exciting and invigorating. Being that consumer myself, I had intuition on what we needed to do".When Ho had her son seven years ago, she breastfed and pumped for 15 months and says she experienced first-hand that being attached to a wall "literally sucks". After she came back from maternity leave, she pivoted all of her work to focus on women's innovation, and the <a href="https://www.nike.com/t/m-swoosh-womens-nursing-and-wearable-pump-compatible-sports-bra-maternity-7437l9/FN2936-010" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nike (M) Swoosh bra</a> was born.Ho and her project team talked to both elite athletes and everyday mums about the features they wanted in a performance nursing bra. "I think a really powerful insight was realising that both have the same needs. Elite athletes are not immune to the challenges of balancing motherhood and sport".One of those challenges: wearing a traditional nursing bra compromises a mother's ability to move, especially if she's pumping, and the force of movement and the weight of a wearable pump can be too much for a typical bra's nursing clips. "If she's doing a lunge, that little piece of plastic on the strap is going to snap", says Ho. The team knew straight away that they had to reimagine the nursing bra's hardware design, and they collaborated with Nike engineering partners to create something better.The Nike (M) Swoosh bra's patented hardware—the two pieces that attach together on the bra strap—is specifically engineered to support the weight of wearable breast pumps plus the forces of any movement. The hardware unclips for quick access to nursing, and the webbing strap on the front of the bra can be pulled to easily adjust the volume of the cups. If you want to loosen the straps, you simply lift the base of the hardware, similar to loosening the shoulder straps of a backpack. This plus the bra's adjustable back strap to accommodate an expanding ribcage ensures the piece fits throughout pregnancy and beyond.

The Nike (M) Swoosh bra's proprietary hardware helps ensure the clips stand up to lunges and burpees while pumping, along with offering easy access for nursing and adjustability for up to two full cup sizes.

How the Nike (M) Swoosh bra works

While the maternity space is saturated with sports bras, Fanny Ho, Senior Manager in Design Innovation, and the Nike team found that the few performance nursing bras out there were either too stretchy and didn't offer support or were too structured and couldn't accommodate the volume of a hands-free breast pump or the hourly fluctuations of a nursing mother's breasts. "We spoke to countless women who said they were always having to compromise between comfort and support, and nothing out there could give them both", she says.

The bra's wearable pump compatibility

"In every pitch meeting I was in, if there were women or mothers in the room, you'd see them nodding their heads", says Ho. "I have to thank so many women in the company who raised their hand and said, 'How can I help?'"

The Nike (M) Swoosh bra

A mesh back helps keep mums cool during movement, while an adjustable back strap accommodates an expanding ribcage.

This innovative, entrepreneurial spirit wasn't unique to Ho and the team. In parallel, Nike's footwear innovation team was tackling its own project to better support mums: the <a href="https://www.nike.com/t/reina-easyon-womens-shoes-sGlHgb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nike Reina EasyOn</a>. This first-of-its-kind pregnancy and postnatal shoe can be slipped on hands-free and has a proprietary adjustable sockliner that creates more room in the forefoot for swelling feet. Like the (M) Swoosh bra, the Nike Reina was a passion project for Nike employees."I've been a PLM for more than 10 years, and this is the most meaningful project I've ever been a part of because it's so personal", says Brenden McAleese, Expert Product Line Manager, Global Footwear. "We started it literally the day after I got back from paternity leave with my daughter. My wife wear-tested the prototypes throughout the entirety of her second pregnancy, and it was great to get that real-time feedback and recognise how impactful the shoe was to the closest person in my life—and how that could transcend to any mother on that journey". McAleese adds that now, with a 1-year-old and 2-and-a-half-year-old, his wife still wears the Nike Reina. "I got a text from her a couple of days ago saying, 'These shoes are a game changer', simply because she can slip her shoes on while carrying a kid in one arm and getting the other kid out the door".

26.2 miles of validation

To validate that the Nike (M) Swoosh bra gave mums all the benefits they needed, Ho and her team brought both elite and everyday athletes into the Nike Sport Research Lab—the epicentre of scientific research at the brand—to put the prototype through its paces. Its biggest challenge, however, was nearly 3,000 miles away on the streets of New York City.There, in the 2021 New York City Marathon, Nike seeded an everyday runner and mother with a prototype of the Nike (M) Swoosh bra, which she used to pump with during the run (three times!). "We wanted her to push the limits of our prototype and prove it was for performance, not just the ability to change a nappy and pump", says Ho. "Our mission was to support her to do the impossible and inspire other mothers to continue to chase their dreams".

Going beyond a bra

For Nike, creating products like the Nike (M) Swoosh bra, the Nike Reina EasyOn and the <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/the-nike-swoosh-1-is-designed-to-help-our-littlest-athletes-nurture-their-first-steps" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nike Swoosh 1</a>, the brand's most innovative early walking shoe (which Ho also helped design), is about offering a holistic system of support for parents. That support starts at home, with Nike employees.To make it easier for new mothers to return to the workforce and sport,&nbsp;the&nbsp;Nike&nbsp;innovation&nbsp;and employee&nbsp;benefits teams partnered to include more wearable pumps to choose from in the company's benefits package. And starting next month, Nike will double its parental leave benefit for all United States-based employees—offering 16 weeks of paid leave for all full- and part-time employees, from corporate to retail, to bond with their new child after birth, adoption or foster placement.

Ho wishes she'd had this kind of support when she was pregnant. And it was that feeling that drove her and an enterprise-wide group of tenacious Nike teams to bring the Nike (M) Swoosh bra to market as quickly as possible. "I have never worked harder on a project", she says. "We just knew, from all the women that we talked to—they needed this yesterday".The result is more than a next-level performance nursing bra, Ho adds. It's the feeling of empowerment."With this bra, we want to empower women to say, 'Here I am—I'm pumping, I'm moving, I'm proud to be a mum, I'm proud to be an athlete and I can be both at the same time'".

Mothers deserve apparel that works as hard as they do. Enter the Nike (M) Swoosh bra.

Explore Nike, Converse and Jordan footwear and apparel design stories featuring Nike Air Force 1, Nike Air Jordan, Nike Air Max and more.

Design

"We knew women needed this bra yesterday"

Chloe Covell knows exactly where she was when she became obsessed with skateboarding. She was six years old and watching a televised skate competition with her dad at home in New South Wales, Australia.&nbsp;On the screen flashed Nike SB team rider Nyjah Huston, who hucked himself down a set of stairs&nbsp;and stuck the landing. Instead of being terrified by the move, she was mesmerised by it. She needed to experience the adrenaline rush herself.Now, at 14, Chloe has the opportunity to medal for her home country this summer, just eight years after she picked up a board for the first time. She's also the face of the Nike SB Day One, the first Nike skate shoe made from the ground up specifically for kids. It's the kind of shoe Chloe wishes she had when she was starting out. Here, we hear from the phenom on what she'd tell her 6-year-old self and what she wants kids everywhere to know about picking up a board.Growing up around a place with good skate culture is huge.&nbsp;Tweed Heads [a coastal town in New South Wales] has a lot of local parks that are good for skaters who are just starting out. We have two skateparks around my house: Tugun and Pizzey, which is a comp-standard park. I started skating those parks all the time, and seeing people doing hard tricks made me want to get better and better. When you want to take a break, you can go skimboarding, swimming, surfing—pretty much anything outside. I've grown up doing it all.The skate community is really supportive.&nbsp;So many people have helped me become the skater I am today. My mum and dad are the most important people for me, and my sister always encourages me and congratulates me. I'm gonna throw Geoff Campbell [Nike SB Australia team manager] in there because he's helped me heaps. Other skaters in my home crew: Tommy Fynn, Eli and Beau Waterson, Yo Wuoti and Jaxon Passey. They're all ripping skaters who make me wanna skate hard. Momiji Nishiya and Rayssa Leal are my two favourite skaters, but they're also my friends. They both have really cool styles and do really good tricks. I look up to them a ton.I like having a day of the week where I don't skate.&nbsp;I skate every day except on Friday, when I'll fish. Just fishing and chilling out. It helps me relax, and this way I don't burn out or anything.Coaches don't necessarily need a ton of experience to be helpful. They just need to show up and be consistent.&nbsp;I love having my dad as a coach because he pushes me to the right level and knows what I can do. He's really helped me progress. Even though he doesn't come from skateboarding, he's aware of it and takes the time to understand the sport and culture. When we go filming, he understands my abilities, and when we're at comps, we work well together.Never stop trying to stick a new trick.&nbsp;Frontside feebles [a move that's somewhere between a 50–50 and a boardslide] took me a really long time to learn. I'd try them out, but I wouldn't lean back, so I'd just get bodied all the time. I kept practising, and I realised that I had to really lean back and push out my board. Now, it's my go-to trick.&nbsp;I like to keep the things I wear simple.&nbsp;I need a fresh T-shirt, trousers and I'm fine. Dunks always look good with the 'fit.&nbsp;Plus, I'm really liking the new Day Ones too. They're one of the comfiest shoes I've ever worn, and they look cool.I define winning a little differently than most. Whoever has made it to the comp wins because you made it that far. You put in the work to get there, so everyone's winning. Sometimes it's just luck though, right? Everyone's working hard, but sometimes you're more consistent and things come together on the day.When I prepare for a comp, I always start with the basics.&nbsp;Before I drop in, I always take a deep breath to help me focus on what I'm doing and get in the moment.﻿

Learn what winning means to the face of the Nike SB Day One, a new silhouette designed specifically for young skateboarders.

Chloe Covell's star is rising

On the second floor of the LeBron James Innovation Center in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike designers huddle around a table studying a 3D-printed shoe prototype for Victor Wembanyama's size 20 foot.

The shoe looks as mind bending as the 7'4" forward himself. Its upper is embedded with a tight, brain-like geometric pattern, inspired by the bismuth crystal Wembanyama wore around his neck on draft night last summer when he was picked No. 1 in the league. Across the lateral midfoot and down the outsole runs a fissure-shaped Nike Air unit never used before in a basketball shoe, like a crack in a comet that fell to Earth. Here, the Air unit is being used not only for cushioning underfoot, but also to forgivingly contain Wembanyama's feet for sharp movements side to side during gameplay. Much like its athlete, every feature of the prototype is subversive. Nothing quite like it has ever been made. But it still needs refining—and fast.&nbsp;Members of the team share detailed feedback with each other on the giant prototype, which is cast in a Sail colour and is punctuated by hits of quintessential Nike Total Orange for the Air unit. The designers want to accent the unit with a darker gradient to highlight the jewel-like textures inside the orange. Someone notices that the pattern's tread depth is slightly too shallow for this prototype, and the drop shadow over the texture doesn't catch the light.&nbsp;"Can we print out a new version of this Air unit?" one of the designers asks. "And can we deepen this tread?" A project manager jots down notes before rushing across the hall to the Concept Creation Center to program the changes into a large 3D printer. The chatter from 12 other shoe design review sessions hums in the giant room behind him. Surrounding the room are 13 giant mood boards, each one devoted to a different athlete's prototype, with digital renderings and sketches and material samples practically spilling over the 8-foot-tall boards.

The design studio in the LeBron James Innovation Center has been the incubator for A.I.R.—Athlete Imagined Revolution—a new co-creation process between teams of Nike designers and innovators and 13 of the brand's elite athletes, from Wembanyama to Sha'Carri Richardson to Kylian Mbappé. A.I.R. brings together some of the world's best athletes and Nike innovators and the most cutting-edge technologies, amplified by AI, to co-create the future of Air.Perhaps no project in Nike's history has united so many next-gen disciplines to create a new working process among designers, athletes and technology.&nbsp;Using Nike Air as the canvas was the perfect choice. The beauty of Air is that it will never reach its final form. It represents constant reinvention and never-ending progress. And with the advent of expanding technologies, some of Air's wildest ideas are no longer fantasy. As the world prepares for Paris, the moment was right for Nike to envision a new frontier of Air, partnering with athletes to let their imaginations run wild."For these prototypes to be successful, they must stir emotions", says John Hoke, Nike, Chief Innovation Officer. "They must evoke a sense of awe for what lies just beyond the horizon, an optimism for the future. What I really hope this project stirs up is a sense of unlimited potential. Nike Air is a nearly 50-year-young technology. We're only at the cusp of harnessing Air's potential, its full expression. And these footwear prototypes show we're nowhere near done".The A.I.R. design techniques used in this building—known as the epicentre for advanced creation at Nike's World Headquarters—stretch the furthest ends of computational power, the sharpest edges of manufacturing capabilities and the most inspired touch of human craft. The prototypes showcase the imaginative possibilities for Nike Air but are grounded in a specific reality—the world in which the athlete performs and competes.A.I.R. is writing a new definition for craftsmanship at Nike: combine the expertise of top creative talent and the most cutting-edge design tools to serve athletes at a specificity never achieved before.

Phase 1: inform and inspire

To kick off, Nike innovators organised into design teams for the 13 Nike athletes across four sports: athletics, global football, basketball and tennis. As with anything at Nike, the first move was to listen to the voice of the athlete. The teams approached their athletes with a searching list of questions&nbsp;for their ideal footwear designs. Did they want something conservative or wild? A holistic design or something defined by an individual component? Something monolithic or fractal? Other questions tapped into the athletes' backgrounds. What people, places or things inspired them? How could the shoe practically embody the athlete? Their personality, their playing style, their physical presence. Everything. Nothing was off limits in these listening sessions.That embodiment means tapping into the "athlete's truth", says Roger Chen, Nike VP, NXT, Digital Product Creation—an almost cellular understanding of the design that helps an athlete think, feel and perform at their best. Chen says the phrase served as the cornerstone for the entire design process. "When a sprinter lines up for the 100-metre and she feels a soul-deep confidence that every element, including her spikes, has prepared her to win—that's&nbsp;the athlete's truth", he says. And it's a data point that can't be quantified and requires extreme trust from both sides."Getting to an athlete's truth requires authentic relationships", says Chen. "You need to know who you're serving. At Nike, everything hinges on how well we know our athletes".Once designers compiled the athletes' answers, they entered them iteratively through detailed AI command prompts to refine their ideas. After the command prompts ran their course, the output was overwhelming: hundreds of examples of AI-created visuals for each athlete, all created in an instant, to give Nike designers plenty of inspiration points for what would become the 13 final prototypes.&nbsp;For Chen and his team, AI-generated outputs became tools to help deepen relationships with athletes in a faster, more specific way."AI exponentially increases our creative process", says Chen. "Creating these starting points used to take us months to do. Now, we can create them in seconds. We liken AI to a sharper, more intelligent pencil. The designer is still in control. It's what you do with the pencil that creates the magic. We gave these generative programs entire worlds to reflect back to us, and they did that. But that doesn't happen without the thorough listening sessions our teams conducted with our athletes".

An early concept for basketball player A'ja Wilson. The AI outputs featured above were inspired by Wilson's goals in helping ignite her team, leading to special interpretations of light, flow and rhythm.

A'ja Wilson

An early concept for Kenyan runner Faith Kipyegon. Some of the AI outputs from Kipyegon's listening sessions are featured above, inspired by her love for training in trail shoes, for traditional Kenyan artwork and especially for her young daughter.

Faith Kipyegon

An early concept for tennis player Zheng Qinwen. The placement of Air throughout the upper was inspired by the effusive joy that Qinwen brings on and off the court, while the AI outputs featured above were shaped by emotions like happiness and playfulness.

Zheng Qinwen

Phase 2: ideate and build

After taking stock of the hundreds of AI visuals, the teams put the intelligent pencil down and did what they do best: design to the exact specifications of championship athletes. The 13 teams used the forms, textures, generative figures and even the entire worlds of the AI images as inspiration to zero in on three radical shoe concepts that manifested a new expression of Air, which was easier said than done. In some cases, designers had to work against the bias of the AI algorithms to create homogenised concepts surrounding Air.&nbsp;"We noticed that a lot of the AI images interpreting Air were bound by a similar fluid aesthetic", says Chen. "The programs tend to naturally express Air as more organic, more flowy. We focused on the inspiration points that would push each concept in a specific, distinct direction".After the designers land on the three concepts, now comes the ultimate feedback—the athletes' assessments. Every detail of the concepts was discussed, including features they'd like considered for aesthetic, functional or expressive reasons.Chen recalled an early session the team had with Eliud Kipchoge as the marathoner gave his feedback on an initial concept. The shoe had a scooped, bevelled heel carved out at the end, resembling a carbon spring on a racing flat. On paper, the aerodynamic design seemed like a sure bet.&nbsp;After quietly studying the digital rendering, Kipchoge took out a sheet of notebook paper and started making his own sketches.Kipchoge drew a version of the concept himself but added a twist. He asked the team to connect the caved-out area towards the heel.&nbsp;"His reasoning was that the debris from unpaved trails would catch in the spring-like shape of the platform while he ran", says Chen. "He saw problems in how his shoe would operate in his training environment that we hadn't yet considered".&nbsp;Innovative design happens when every player—designer, athlete and AI—can challenge unintended assumptions. When Chen and the design team were listening to feedback from 100-metre champion Sha'Carri Richardson on her concepts, a descriptive word she used for her design hung in the air: graceful."When you think of Sha'Carri, you think of strength, power and determination", says Chen. But when the design team talked to Sha'Carri about her concepts, she told the designers she didn't want a spike that looked like a battle sandal. "Her dream was for her foot to have this oneness, this harmony with the plate construction of the spike, which is why we focused on the underfoot unit beautifully blending into the upper and up the leg sleeve", Chen says. "It was a great example of how our athletes embody so many traits at once. We wanted their prototypes to do the same".

As the designers received feedback from the athletes, the next step was to make it real. The teams dived into the meticulous work of creating the prototypes through their disciplinary expertise, an instinct that the team calls "an intuitive read".&nbsp;Many of the inspiration points kicked back through the AI programs are laughably wild. If they were translated into a prototype, the shoe would never hold up to the rigours of a three-hour tennis match on a sweltering Melbourne hard court or the 360-degree movements of an exhausting full-court NBA game. Does this read like a basketball shoe? The designers are tasked with asking, if not, why not? Conversely, a successful prototype, flickering with potential to become a real performance product, made the teams ask themselves, if so, how so? What insights from A.I.R. could someday help shape future products? To get the answers, the teams tapped every advanced tool at Nike's disposal to create the prototypes, like immersive 3D sketching, computational design and 3D printing and simulation, along with traditional methods like hand sketching.Take Paralympian and tennis player Diede de Groot. Diede needs her feet to be locked into her wheelchair, and her shoes can't be a distraction from her game. The team couldn't use Air as underfoot cushioning in the traditional sense, but the expression of Air still needed to be authentic to her vision. The solution: design her shoe to quickly and easily clip into her wheelchair and lock her in, similar to a cycling shoe, while using Air on the upper to provide the containment she needs. Digital methods like simulation allowed designers to test the support, containment and durability of de Groot's shoe computationally before a real prototype was even printed."A beautiful part of the project was getting such diverse minds all around the table creating together, layering different techniques and technologies over one another", says Chen. "We were constantly learning from each other. It's the Nike way of uniting different disciplines to create something new".&nbsp;Nike's manufacturing power gave the teams the ability to produce physical components quickly to evaluate design forms in person, in real time. This is when the full horsepower of Nike's facilities is on display, from rapid 3D printers in the Concept Creation Center that verify design theories to Nike's Air MI machines—&nbsp;located in a building a mile away from the World Headquarters—that can mould a never-seen-before Air unit proposed by an athlete.&nbsp;Manufacturing added another benefit to the design process: seeing subtle imperfections within the real object that can then be improved.Tennis pro Zheng Qinwen's concept was inspired by her Chinese heritage, with Nike Air appearing in the form of a coiled dragon to provide support and containment, the dragon scales acting as a durable traction design.Back in the workspace, a designer holds up Qinwen's sample, the light above the table illuminating the Total Orange of the serpentine Air unit. The indentations of the clip, an arrangement of dragon scales made to perform like traction, perfectly line up to the geometry of the Air unit beneath, a feature that's clear only when examined up close.In an earlier prototype, the textures of the clip didn't mirror the textures of the unit underneath, so Nike's computational designers made a new sample and went deep on the pattern so the scales perfectly matched the geometry of the unit. Plus, the pattern was computationally reinforced in high-wear areas, an insight that followed extensive tennis wear-testing data pulled from the NSRL.&nbsp;"Not many people will see the level of obsession that goes into these final designs", the designer says. "The important thing is that we did it".

Inspired by the excellence of high fashion, the British sprinter wanted an underfoot experience tailored for both functionality and beauty. The forefoot Air unit is computationally engineered for lightweight stability, sitting underneath a sleek, sport-mesh upper. The TPU heel clip, modelled after an elegant slingback, easily detaches once Asher-Smith hits the starting line.

Dina Asher-Smith

The hurdler's passion for cycling helped shape the design of his spike, both literally and technically. Air needed to act as a form of suspension through extreme forces, so it's concentrated in the forefoot and heel, bridged by a ribbed, hurdle-inspired midfoot plate designed with the idea to spring him forwards. On his right spike, the forefoot AIR unit is contained on the lateral side and exposed on the medial side, resembling a dual-density construction to help Benjamin bank on the turns.

Rai Benjamin

The tennis champion wields a style of play that's smooth and constantly in motion, occasionally mixed with explosive bursts of speed. She wanted Air to provide strong internal containment throughout the upper without weighing her down. Also important to de Groot was ease of entry while in her wheelchair; the heel tailgate takes inspiration from FlyEase technology, while the clipping mechanism under the outsole attaches to her wheelchair quickly and easily.

Diede de Groot

The special shape of Haaland's design represents a moment frozen in time—the curvature of the foot upon striking. The upper, with its unique Air pattern and design, evokes striking power that gives the ball a pop in response to contact.

Erling Haaland

The Aussie striker knows she gets serious bounce from Air, especially when she launches into one of her rare backflips, a playful celebration that inspired her design. The heel and forefoot feature big, bold, exposed Air units across the plate. The micro-textures across the forefoot are designed with the idea to help her control the ball, while an upside-down Swoosh runs across the collar.

Sam Kerr

The greatest marathoner in history was drawn to a design that ran the continuum from overtly technical to quietly naturalistic. Believing that "the more you squeeze, the more juice you get" from Air cushioning, Kipchoge added a visible forefoot Air unit detailed with sap-like tensile fibres. The rocker throughout the bevelled heel is inspired by his meticulous insights into helping develop the historic Alphafly line.

Eliud Kipchoge

The middle-distance champion loves the sensation of training in trail shoes, and she wanted full-length Air to provide an uncompromisingly supportive ride in her design, powering through any sudden turn in the weather. The lugged outsole design easily sheds mud when conditions are harsh. The upper features a secure, bootie-like fit, while the computationally beaded textures are inspired by a bracelet she wears in honour of her daughter, who's also symbolised through a small Swoosh on the heel.

Air is all about universal speed for Mbappé, its benefits translating across all sports. His design features full-length Air integrated through the underfoot plate for responsiveness, while the boot's profile is inspired by the function of an athletics spike and the velocity of a fighter jet. The traction underfoot is constructed for pure, linear speed.

Kylian Mbappé

The final athlete concepts

What would happen if Nike were to use cutting-edge design tools and a team of its top creative talent with 13 of the world's greatest athletes? Where would their imagination take them? Enter A.I.R., Athlete Imagined Revolution.