When the most decorated 100-meter 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 honor 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 colors of her nation’s flag for her final finish —&nbsp;gold-hued 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-meter 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-meters 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 track and field’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 the now 276 incredible races and finish line moments, thank you, Shelly-Ann.Below, go behind the scenes of the G.O.A.T.’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 in-house photographer to 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 sports 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 ability to work in high pressure environments for athletes.

Sofieke van Bilsen

Photo Essay

Icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Ran Her Final 100 Meter 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 &amp; CEO Mark Parker to debut his Nike Zoom LeBron V "China" colorway.

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’ 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, emphasizing 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 grueling, 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 kilometers, with elevation gains of 1,200 to nearly 10,000 meters — the grit, determination, joy and freedom trail running gives you is worth every ounce of work. See for yourself.

<h3>ROSS GOLLAN</h3>Race: ETC; 15km with 1,200m elevation gain Global finish rank: 29th

<h3>MARIE NIVET</h3>Race: Experience Trail Courmayeur (ETC); 15km with 1,200m elevation gain Global women’s finish rank: 7th

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

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

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

<h3>DREW HOLMEN</h3>Race: CCC; 101km 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

NExt volume

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

Department of Nike Archives

This is, obviously, a running story.But the story of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-pegasus-42-official-images" target="_blank">Nike Pegasus</a> is also something more specific — a case study in how restraint, clarity and attention to fundamentals can produce lasting success. Launched in 1982, the Pegasus would go on to become Nike’s most consistent and popular running shoe of all time, a franchise that has endured across eras, innovations and shifting footwear philosophies. “There’s no modest way of saying this,” said Sebastian Tesche, Product Line Manager of the Pegasus 35. “The Peg is the single biggest and best running shoe in the world. It’s bigger than many of our competitors.”It wasn’t designed to be an icon. It was designed to solve a problem.

In the late 1970s, Nike’s earliest experiments with Air were full of promise but hindered by the realities of the technology. The 1978 Tailwind introduced Air to running yet it introduced stability issues that the company would spend the next several years trying to fix. The Columbia and Aurora that followed solved some of those problems but felt stiff at a time when runners wanted something livelier underfoot. Fortunately, Nike knew Air was a long game.&nbsp;

The great thing that we always thought about Air at that time — and it’s still true — is that it doesn’t lose its cushioning properties hardly at all through time,” said Howard Banich, who oversaw running product in 1982. “Jeff Johnson, Nike’s first employee, always wanted us to do an ad that showed a person coming back to the shoe store with just the Air bag from their shoe and saying, ‘I would like another shoe around this please.’ Because the Air bag was still going strong.”Still, the question remained: how do you put Air where it matters without making the shoe too expensive or too complicated?One solution came from an ongoing innovation project led by former Nike CEO Mark Parker. Known internally as the Air Wedge Trainer — the concept that would ultimately become the Pegasus —&nbsp;it borrowed an Internationalist upper and outsole, added a heel Air unit encapsulated in polyurethane and positioned Air right at heel strike. It was essentially a simpler, cheaper expression of Air and it tested well.

“A heel wedge still provided the benefits of Air where it was needed the most —&nbsp;under the heel at heel strike — but it was less expensive because it was really only a third of the size of the full-length Air-Sole that was used in the Tailwind,” Parker said.At the same time, New Balance had just released the 990 with a provocative tagline: “At a suggested retail price of $100, is the 990 too expensive or too inexpensive?” The price point shocked the market and galvanized Nike. If the competition was willing to push upward, Nike saw an opportunity to create a shoe that delivered performance at a more approachable cost.The Air Wedge Trainer, with its strong test results and modest bill of materials, suddenly looked like the perfect platform.

Building a “best practices” shoe

With the Air Wedge Trainer as a foundation, development for the Pegasus took place at Nike’s facility in Exeter, New Hampshire, where the heel Air wedge concept was built into a fully realized running shoe. Bill Peterson designed the outsole. Bruce Kilgore, deep in Air Force 1 development, offered design input. Parker integrated those ideas into a simple, functional upper: gray, with dark navy accents — a look one European sales rep later described as “a rainy day.”Nike also made a strategic shift to hit its target price of around $50: manufacturing moved to Korea, to the Poon Young factory. Very few running shoes were being produced in Korea at the time. Components had to be imported — Air wedges from the U.S., nylon from Germany — and Nike developers scrambled to refine techniques. “The Air unit didn’t fit correctly in the shoe at first,” recalled footwear innovation veteran Steve Roth. During a vacation back in the U.S., he spent two weeks in Saco, Maine resizing Air wedges by hand so they would sit properly in the midsole.Still, the project moved fast. In only about four months, Nike had a completed shoe — one built around Air and a carefully selected set of core features: A new EVA foam called Tomilite offered a resilient ride. A waffle outsole, with lugs oriented for motion, gave runners better ground contact and stability. The upper was simple, lightweight and unpretentious.

“The Pegasus was essentially our ‘best practices’ shoe,” Roth said. “It had Air, yes, but it was mostly about: what are the best features we can put in a product that hit the sweet spot of the market?”It wasn’t the flashiest running shoe in the line, nor was it meant to be. It was designed to work.

A running manual for the masses

Nike’s confidence in the Pegasus showed in the small details. The company had begun releasing “owner’s manuals” with its higher-profile footwear to help runners understand new technologies and the Pegasus received one, too. It walked consumers through Air, Tomilite and the shoe’s geometry. The transparency helped reinforce the Pegasus as a shoe built on clarity, usefulness and trust.

Naming the Pegasus

Today, many assume the Pegasus name came from the idea of a half-horse, half-winged creature, an allusion to the balance of EVA and Air in the midsole. But the real story is far simpler.To name the shoe, employees dropped suggestions into a bowl. Several slips of paper read Pegasus, including one from Mark Parker. Nike had been playing with mythology themes — Odyssey, Valkyrie — and Pegasus fit the family. “Names were a lot easier back then,” Parker said.The name stuck. And with it came the beginnings of what would become Nike’s most beloved running shoe.

The instant hit

Nike introduced the Pegasus at the 1982 New York City Marathon. While Alberto Salazar powered to his third consecutive win in a pair of Mariahs, the men’s Pegasus debuted in limited quantities as part of Nike’s technical running line. It launched to select dealers and quickly posted strong early sales: nearly $200,000 in under a month, with roughly 8,000 units sold. By December, that number had climbed to more than 35,000 pairs.When the Pegasus rolled out more broadly in early 1983, the reaction was immediate. “The initial reaction to the Pegasus was very good,” said Jim Docherty, who began his career as a Nike EKIN that year. “When the Tailwind hit the market, some consumers thought it was too soft because most midsoles were fairly firm at that time and the Tailwind was a big change from the norm. The Pegasus with heel Air bridged the gap between old EVA midsoles and total Air.”

For young runners and store employees alike, the Pegasus quickly became the reliable choice — the shoe you knew you could recommend.In 1983, long before he became a Nike Running veteran and future Pegasus PLM, Tim Slingsby was working in a running store as a high schooler. “The Pegasus was your go-to shoe when someone would come in, you would sell them,” he said. “As a high school kid, you knew it would work, it would perform, and it was a great price. It had everything.”Within six months, Nike had sold nearly 300,000 pairs, generating $6.4 million in men’s sales alone.The formula worked.

The every-runner’s shoe

By 1985, Pegasus sales had reached 2.5 million pairs. Nike had found its lane and owned it. Longtime Nike designer Bob Lucas compared the shoe to an automotive staple: “To use an automotive analogy, auto manufacturers have their Pegasus in their lines: a Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla. … that kind of product line where it’s a value-based proposition.”Over the next several years, Nike made only modest adjustments to the shoe — incremental material updates, seasonal color changes — while leaving its core intact. That restraint became part of the Pegasus’ identity. “I think everybody always knew it was one of those things where you didn’t want to change it,” said Clare Hamill, a leader at Nike Running in the mid-1980s. “That was the biggest challenge —&nbsp;how to make it better without changing it.”

At the heart of the early Pegasus was a simple principle: don’t complicate it. The midsole, upper and outsole were all guided by what Hamill described plainly. “The core philosophy of the Pegasus was, keep it simple. No junk. Give people what they need and don’t overbuild.”Runners felt that clarity. By the late 1980s, the Pegasus had become a dependable constant in an increasingly crowded running landscape, one defined less by flash than by trust. The 1989 Air Pegasus, built on existing tooling with a soft poly-pag and synthetic suede upper, would later be remembered as a high-water mark. “If you asked loyal Pegasus wearers through the years what their favorite version has been,” said former Nike Running leader Kevin Paulk, “I would be willing to bet a lot of people would say the Peg ’89. It had a nice soft upper and fit like a glove.”

From its earliest years, that has remained the draw of the Pegasus: a running shoe built not to chase trends but to earn loyalty, mile after mile.

The Peg wasn’t designed to be an icon. It was designed to solve a problem. See how that solution became "the single biggest and best running shoe in the world."

Nike Pegasus: The Origin of a Running Workhorse

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 program 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 track and field, all the way up to 1,500 meters. 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-meter 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-meter, 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 center of the city. Growing up nearby 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 finish 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

In June of 2024, the Minnesota Lynx won the WNBA’s in-season tournament and the Commissioners Cup. Standing at center court to accept the championship MVP was Napheesa Collier. That the all-star forward would tally another award that season was almost a foregone conclusion. She’d go on to post historic stat lines (in a regular season game versus the Aces, she became only the third player in WNBA history to individually outrebound the entire opposing team, her 18 boards to their 17), bring home national glory with another gold medal in the Paris Olympics, and win the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. What was one more award for the mantle? Still, when she was announced as the tournament’s MVP, she was visibly confused, and what could’ve been an acceptance speech turned into an honest, humble deferral to her teammate, forward Bridget Carleton, who’d go on to earn the league’s Most Improved Player award that season. “Honestly, I think Bridget deserves this. She had an outstanding game,” she said into the arena microphone.The Jordan Brand athlete, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/jordan-brand-heir-series-2-official-images" target="_blank">who's also the face of the new Heir Series 2</a>, knows that excellence is never an accident. It’s the product of creating strong, stable infrastructures among teammates over time; building a culture that can withstand pressures of all kinds; lifting up others when they are deserving, like during that tournament victory, and encouraging one another to aspire for more than they thought possible. That’s true for the Lynx. That’s true for the W. That’s true for Unrivaled, the innovative 3x3 league co-founded by Collier. Building excellence takes a blueprint. Here, Collier shares about the people, places and values that have shaped her status as one of basketball’s great architects.&nbsp; &nbsp;My sense of home always starts with family. Jefferson City, Missouri was a great place to grow up. It’s a small town in the middle of the state, very Midwestern. But my family is the most important thing in my life. My dad’s from West Africa, but we have a huge Sierra Leonian community in Jeff City, and my mom’s whole side of the family grew up running one of the city’s dairy farms, so I had two very culturally different families. Being surrounded by so much family, I’ve always been a very family-oriented person. It gave me an early look at what healthy dynamics among groups of people looks like.Maya Moore was my Michael Jordan. She was the first athlete I really followed, and she’s actually from Jeff City, too. When I was 10 or 11, I remember watching her games when she was at UCONN. I have a snapshot in my mind of how athletic she looked, how she made everything look so easy, so skilled. Even the way she did her layups — I can’t even explain it, it was just perfect, just so unique to her. Watching her was a core memory for me as a kid.

The pressure of excellence is what makes you great. I’ve been really lucky with the teams I’ve played on, where they all expect excellence from their players. Even my high school coach at Incarnate Word reminded me a lot of Coach Geno Auriemma at UCONN (Editor’s Note: As of this writing, Incarnate Word Academy holds the all-time high school basketball winning streak). UCONN was the first time that I walked in the arena and I could feel the excellence that came before me. I mean, so many incredible Hall of Fame players who came before me. If you don’t win a championship at UCONN, it’s a bad year. You do feel that pressure to measure up. But I perform my best under pressure. It challenges you to be your best. You’ve got to decide how you’re going to step up.&nbsp;Experience is the best teacher when responding to setback. I had a great rookie season with Minnesota in 2019. But when I arrived before that season kicked off, I had a horrible training camp. I had two preseason games, and I might’ve had five points between the two games. I remember that sinking feeling so vividly, because it brought me back to my freshman year at UCONN, where I felt like I had a really bad freshman season. When I felt myself drifting back into that dark space, I told myself, ‘I’m never going to do that again.” And after my freshman year, I was working out twice a day, every day, because I resolved to never feel that feeling again. I wasn’t going to repeat the past.It’s so important for young players to step into a franchise where their veterans are supportive. You’re the top dog when you’re a senior in college, but then you get to the W, all of a sudden you’re at the bottom of the totem pole again, surrounded by hall of fame players. Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles were the first ones to embrace me.&nbsp;Syl is the most motherly person I’ve ever met. The first time I met her, she’s like, “Baby, if you ever need anything, you give me a call. I’ve got you.” My vets had my back from day one, which really allowed me to blossom into my role from the beginning.&nbsp;

When you’re not worried about team dynamics, you can focus on becoming the player you need to be. When I joined the Lynx, I didn’t have to worry about team dynamics. I knew they supported me no matter what, so I could focus on what I needed to do on the court, all while trying to be a good teammate. I don’t take that privilege I had for granted. That’s why I try to pay it forward to the rookies and the young players now, making sure they feel welcome when they’re on the team, making sure they know they can come to me if they need anything, because I know how huge that was for me when I first came into the league. Vocal leadership and leading by example can exist at the same time. When I arrived as a rookie, I think my style was more to lead by how I played on the court. I was the hardest working person, but I was uncomfortable with being vocal. My coach, Cheryl Reeve, put me as a captain from the jump, and she challenged me to be more vocal, to speak up. Eight years later, I’ve gotten way more comfortable with leading with my voice, in part because I’m doing it on behalf of our league’s younger players, too. I want to give the league’s young players the knowledge they need to be successful, because everyone’s fighting for a roster spot and is looking for any advantage they can find. This is our careers and our livelihoods at stake. I’ll do anything I can to help young players grow in their game. I remember how grateful I felt when my vets did that for me. I want young players to know they don’t need to feel lost. They can find a sense of belonging, a sense that players like me will be by their side.&nbsp;

There are moments in a season that hinge on whether you can look past your own self interests. Last year, I hurt my ankle badly in an early season game against Vegas. I really wanted to come back, partly because I was a front runner for MVP at the time, and I wanted to start playing again as soon as possible so I could hold my spot. But at the end of the day, I wanted to win a championship. If I rushed back early, I could’ve hurt our team’s chances at a title. So I really tried to make sure my ankle was as healthy as possible so I could be ready for the playoffs, even if that meant sacrificing a possible MVP title for that year. It wasn’t a “win” in the traditional sense, but it was a win for our team, and that’s what mattered to me.Generational Greatness means upholding the work of those who came before you. I joined Jordan Brand because I wanted to be surrounded by greatness. It’s starts with Michael Jordan himself. He’s the standard of greatness, he changed the game forever. We’re in his brand, competing in his name, and I want to make sure I’m doing everything I can to honor the standard he’s set for us.&nbsp;

The Minnesota Lynx All Star and Jordan Brand athlete is well familiar with the blueprint for success.

The Future of Women’s Basketball is Limitless. Napheesa Collier is Busy Building It

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 toward 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 was gnarly). In grimacing pain but undeterred, he popped his ankle back in place himself and resumed play, where he’d complete the week with a top 10 finish. Oh, and two months later, he’d make the final group at the US Open. And he’d qualify for his first Ryder Cup. All in a year when he could put barely 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 200 mph since he was 17 years old. He was recruited for hoops out of high school, and he descends from a proud lineage of skilled Tongan and Samoan athletes, particularly in 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, 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 mom 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 mom 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 mom, she passed away in 2011 — her favorite color was green. Wearing green is a way I like to honor 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 was 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 middle 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 organized track, and intent on sealing the record by the end of the school year. Her father John took her to a college track on a cold fall afternoon for 400-meter 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 high school, Jane Hedengren has established herself as one of the most accomplished amateur distance runners in American history. She arguably had the most dominant high school season ever in 2024, male or female, breaking nine high 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 Program, 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 starting her own collegiate running career at BYU in the fall.

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 program, 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 fall 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 realized I had a talent probably right around my sophomore year of high 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 college 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 medaling 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 high 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 likely 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 likely know Luka as a fierce competitor who brings a trademark tenacity to each play. A generational talent, fueled 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 favorite pastimes, fishing and basketball.Getting out on the water is one of my favorite 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 favorite, and I played outdoors almost every day after school. I also tried tennis and soccer —&nbsp;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 realized 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 road 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 fadeways 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 skinner 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 realize 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 organization. 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 organization 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 organization. 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 is 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 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

If there was ever a moment that showed <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-sabrina-2-official-images-sabrina-ionescu" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sabrina Ionescu</a>’s ability to see the game differently than the rest of the world, it was on November 9, 2019, when her Oregon Ducks played an exhibition game against the greatest dynasty in sport: The USA Women’s National team. The night before the game, Ionescu texted her teammates. We have nothing to lose, she encouraged them. Go out and play our way. Don’t let another team come to our home floor and dictate our system. This was in response to an opponent that hadn’t lost to a college team in 20 years, longer than some of Sabrina’s teammates had been alive.&nbsp;But where other players saw crushing odds, Sabrina saw opportunity. She would lead her team to an improbable victory, 93-86, posting a 30-7-4 statline. Defeating a global powerhouse. Securing college basketball’s triple-double crown. Becoming a No.1 draft pick in the WNBA. Helping lead the New York Liberty to its first Finals appearance in over two decades. Every time Ionescu sees an obstacle, she sees right past it.&nbsp;Ionescu’s ability to process the game at an elite level results from a lifetime of dedication to her craft. For her, perfection is found in the smallest of details: the angle of the foot during a jab step, the arc of a stepback jumper, the spin on a crosscourt bounce pass to a teammate. To see what she sees, we asked Sabrina to share about her focus and determination and her pursuit of excellence.&nbsp;&nbsp; ﻿Craft is a lot bigger than what’s seen in a stat sheet or on the scoreboard. It’s about mastering a process, not necessarily just one aspect of a game, or one technique. When you master a process for how you see improvement — maybe its scoring, maybe its facilitating for your teammates, maybe it’s doing the little things — you end up encompassing everything on the court.&nbsp;Mentally, practice is sometimes more exhausting than a game. In practice, I try to put myself in specific moments and situations over and over again. Whether it’s where a defender would be or a buzzer-beater shot, I'm always using my imagination to create situations when I'll be under pressure. And that takes a lot of work. But if I’ve put in the mental preparation, the work in practice actually sets me free during games, because I’ve already lived that moment in my head.&nbsp;The offseason is the time to work on those aspects of your game that you want to elevate. I’ve worked a lot out of one-on-one situations lately.&nbsp;I know I’m a great passer, but I think finding ways to create space on my own and not needing a screen or needing my teammates to get me open is a next step for my game. I’ve also focused on being able to attack downhill and make decisions and finish around the rim.

Competitiveness has always been one of my superpowers. I’ve always been a competitive and intense kid. I used to fight with my brothers all the time during games growing up. The older I’ve gotten, the better I’ve been able to harness my desire to win and use it for my advantage.&nbsp;Not everyone has the same driving force for success. I became a better leader when I realized that some people are more competitive than others and have different desires. For me, that realization hit in middle school. I saw that some of my teammates were just playing for fun, or to see if they liked the game. But I knew I still had to relate to them for our team to be the best it could be. And that meant knowing that not everyone is motivated the same way I am. I had to learn to accept that. Now, I’m on a team that demands excellence from one another, and we hold each other accountable. Everyone in my circle is aligned to the same goals I have. Second place isn’t an option.In college, I loved being able to help put a program on the map. I had the opportunity to go anywhere in the country I wanted coming out of high school, but I wanted to go to a program that wasn’t as established yet, because I knew the reward would be greater. We sold out almost every game my senior season, and we were competing for a national championship.The coaches who know you the best are often able to push you the hardest. I had the same coach from fourth grade to my senior year of high school. He coached me harder than I think he ever coached anybody else. If my jersey wasn't tucked right, if my socks were different heights, if my shoelaces were tied differently, I was running laps. He would act like I was putting myself above the team, but he was really showing me how I needed to act as a leader and how I need to be pushed. The higher up you want to go, the higher up you want to be, the higher the expectations.

I’d tell my younger self to have a kind of tunnel vision for her process. What that means to me is to focus on your own journey, rather than allow someone else to tell you what you can or can’t be. While I think I did a good job of that, but when I was drafted first overall and turned pro, I could feel a different pressure to speed up the process and succeed. I wish I would’ve reminded myself more to keep my tunnel vision, no matter what.&nbsp;As a player, you remember the people who saw the potential that was within you. I don’t just want to prove people wrong who doubted me. I want to prove people right who believed in me.&nbsp;

The all-star guard on her incredible focus and determination, and her relentless pursuit of excellence.

How Sabrina Ionescu Sees the Game

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Motivational Coach and former track and field star Angela Manuel-Davis doesn’t take words lightly. And trust her when she says that neither should we. “There’s so much power in your words. We are who we say we are. We become those words. So it’s important to begin to say it, even before you believe it.” Here are her words to live by. On repeat.

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

The motivational coach and former champion sprinter shares how she gets her head in the game.

Fan 101

Angela Manuel-Davis's Mantra for Winning

A sport, fashion and cultural legend: The Nike Windrunner tracksuit. What was originally designed to protect runners from the elements has stood on podiums on the backs of those who’ve made history; has stood the test of rain, sleet, time and trend to become an icon on and off the track. When is a tracksuit more than just a tracksuit? When you make it your own — with your own sense of style and your own attitude. Below, the icon as worn by icons: Naomi Osaka, Scout Bassett, Asisat Oshoala, Kaia Gerber, Kelly Cheng, Sara Hughes, Ana Zheng, María Isabel, Kirsty Godso, and Devon Lee Carlson.

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

When is a tracksuit more than just a tracksuit? When you make it your own — with your own sense of style and your own attitude.

On the track, court, pitch, street and beyond, Nike serves the world’s best with unparalleled product innovation, leveraging its proprietary Nike Air, the power of new digital tools, and the incomparable data collected in its Nike Sport Research Lab.

Innovating For Athletes

The New Nike Windrunner Tracksuit Is a Fresh Take on a Sports Icon

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.

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 forward.

Brand of Athletes

7 Nike Athletes on How Style Fuels Them

What is style, if not a means to bear our inner selves, to bring the interior exterior, and to shine outwardly from within? This is a question that Gabriella Karefa-Johnson constantly asks — and answers — in her work as a stylist. Her narrative approach is bringing more diversity (and, if you ask us, more excitement, more joy, more everything) to fashion. And as the Nike Women’s Global Stylist, she is taking her ethos to the next level, finding inspiration through athletes and sport. The basic style principles revolve around our personal impulses in the way we dress — never succumbing to what is expected, yielding only to what feels right for us, she insists. The only rule, in other words, is to DO YOU. Do all you can to make your own space, and watch the world yield to it.&nbsp;

Fashion is a mirror. It reflects our times — socially, culturally, politically. It’s a reflection of the life that we lead individually and the world that we live in.&nbsp;Athletes, like all humans, are not one dimensional. They exist in multitudes. And how they present in sport, on the court, off the court, in the tunnel — all of that is an important part in their performance, because it’s an important part of who they are. And it’s the women athletes who are leading the way.&nbsp;

The ways we express ourselves in sport are much closer to fashion than you might think. It’s athletes who make the sport and not the other way around. The power is in the individual.&nbsp; And it’s as much about who you are as a person as it is how well you perform. Sure, you want to win — but to be your personal best, to stand out like you want to stand out. Style has always been a variable in that equation.

The ways we express ourselves in sport are much closer to fashion than you might think.

Feature

Nike Stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson on the Radical Act of Self-Expression

Anyone who has witnessed Sha’Carri Richardson run her signature 100 meter knows that there is nothing more mesmerizing than watching her blast off from the starting line, a cascade of hair floating in the wind behind her. Piercing the air with urgency, defying physics and odds with a velocity that can only be described as supernatural, there is no stopping her. And yet, it’s just as inspiring to see Sha’Carri anchored with a newly discovered and powerful inner peace. Indeed, Sha’Carri’s focus is both on that finish line and within. It is, she says, the only path forward.&nbsp;Here, the track star talks to <a href="https://www.marjoncarlos.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Marjon Carlos</a> about how breathing helps her block out the noise, the value of letting go, and the legacy she wishes to leave.

MARJON CARLOS It’s so inspiring to hear you talking about focus and creating inner peace. I’m really curious about how you found and maintain it.&nbsp;SHA'CARRI RICHARDSON A lot of people don’t realize inner peace is something that you have to literally create for yourself. It’s easy to have something, but it’s not easy to keep it. My inner peace comes down to keeping what matters to me my focus — meaning my team, my career, my family, my faith. I purposely submerged myself into those different categories of my life. That way, l’m able to generate that peace, knowing those areas of my life are okay, they’re taken care of.&nbsp;It may sound very random, but another thing that helped me is my breathing. When I control my breathing, I’m able to slow down my thoughts, and by being able to slow down my thoughts, I’m able to properly choose what I want to say. So I intentionally say things that I want to say rather than just reacting from what I feel.MARJON Do you incorporate that breath work into your training as well?&nbsp;SHA’CARRI Oh, absolutely. Honestly, I incorporate breathing work into every aspect of my life, but especially on the track. That’s probably one of the biggest and one of the only things I can do that can actually calm my nerves, especially in that moment [before a race], in those buildups of knowing what’s to come. It’s taking a moment and catching myself [to] just slow it down. It is almost ironic for me to say “slow down” because I would never. But honestly, taking a moment to actually know, “Okay, you can sit down, you can slow it down, you can breathe, you can let it go. You can take it in, but you got to let it go. No matter what you take in, you have to let it go.”MARJON How has your inner work helped your performance on the track?&nbsp;SHA’CARRI Once I step on the track, it’s literally another level of intuition. It’s another level of commitment to that inner peace. Because once in that moment, there’s literally nobody else. Yes, there’s so many other women on the track, there’s people in the stands. But in all honesty, it’s nothing but you and your star player. If your star player inside is all jumbled around and not focusing when you are on that [starting] line, you have already lost the race. At this [point], there ain’t no other drill I can do, there’s nothing more I can say or tell myself.&nbsp;So right now I just have to be with myself. What helps me with my inner peace when I’m on that line is actually knowing and telling myself that I’m my biggest fan. I’m my biggest fan, I’m my biggest critic. I’m prepared to criticize myself, I’m prepared to congratulate myself, I’m prepared to uplift myself.&nbsp;At the same time, I’m prepared to hold myself to a different level of accountability on that line before l take off.&nbsp;MARJON How do you block out the noise and the distractions? Is there a place that you go to physically, like a retreat or a city that just helps you really focus when you’re training, or is it a mental place?&nbsp;SHA’CARRI Oh Lord, I wish I had that opportunity during training to go fly off. But no, honestly, I feel like when it comes to being an athlete, it takes a different level of discipline and commitment and sacrifice.&nbsp;When I start training in November and I say I want to do this by the end of the year, I have to make that choice from then up until that moment to do what I’ve actually committed to. I like to talk to my family.&nbsp;I talk to my team just as much and the people that I know that make me feel comfortable. I like being in my house. I like to come outside and sit by my pool.&nbsp;I like to be able to put my feet in the ground and by water. I like to take hot baths. I definitely enjoy water though. That’s very calming for me.&nbsp;

MARJON I loved seeing you literally giving your grandmother her flowers after your latest win. That was really a touching moment. I was looking at your Instagram post where the caption read, “Keep the main thing the main thing.” I was curious what that meant for you.&nbsp;SHA’CARRI That came from being around like-minded people that I know have the same journey as me and them reminding me to stay focused on what has gotten me here. Staying focused on what you need to take care of: your family, your mother, your cousins. That’s where that comes from: listening to the ones around me that see the potential in me that I’m still learning to see for myself.&nbsp;MARJON What advice would you give to other young Black women who are also seeking inner peace?&nbsp;SHA’CARRI It starts with a level of more acceptance of myself — meaning all of myself, not just the parts that I can tolerate. I would say a lot of people forget that in healing, you have to be able to take a certain level of accountability and self-reflection as well when you know you want to go forward. Because if you can’t let go, you can't go forward.&nbsp;MARJON I love that.&nbsp;SHA’CARRI I’ll say that!&nbsp;MARJON You have incredible motivating mantras. “I just want the world to know that I’m that girl,” went viral, and then, “I'm not back, I’m better,” and now,&nbsp;“If you can't let go, you can’t go forward.” Are these conversations going in your mind when you’re preparing for a race?&nbsp;SHA'CARRI Oh, absolutely. Especially in those moments where you have been imagining and working and saying you’re prepared, but you’re never really prepared until it’s right there in your face. I almost have to remind myself, “Hey, you are that girl. You have done this before!” As well as, “I’m not back, I’m better.” Meaning, yes, I may have been younger, immature, but I feel like I’m now better. My talent has always been what it was, if not better.&nbsp;I’m still the same girl, but l’m a better woman. “I’m not back, l’m better” just sinks into my head on race day.&nbsp;In order to go forward, you got to let go. In that moment I’m about to get down on the line or [l’m] warming up, I have to let go. I have to let go of that last race, even if it [was] a good last race. What I did a month ago is not going to contribute to what I get done in the next half hour. I was listening to GloRilla this past weekend [at the Prefontaine Classic], and there’s a lyric where she was saying, “Stop overthinking.” And that lyric right there in that moment resonated.&nbsp;

MARJON When you’re competing and you’re training for this summer and you’re competing at such a high level, what do you sacrifice? What do you say no to? What do you say yes to?&nbsp;SHA’CARRI I sacrifice time with my family so l can train, travel, and ultimately to just go off to this summer and have a great season. I feel like I spend a lot of time away from them. I will also say I sacrifice making certain choices, even diet-wise, not eating certain things that I necessarily would give myself a little bit more of if I was in my off season. I don’t go out a lot to put myself in the best position to align with my ultimate goals at the end of the summer. I still have a good time. I just don’t do too much. I keep it at a minimum because it’s nothing to celebrate right now. Not yet. Not quite.&nbsp;MARJON Obviously you have a huge summer ahead of you, but you also have a huge career ahead of you.&nbsp;What, for you, does your legacy look like?&nbsp;SHA’CARRI I would say my legacy looks like showing people that no matter what happens, it’s a matter of what you decide you want to happen. No matter what happens in life, you have to be able to get up and dust yourself off. I’m not even just saying it in a negative way. More so, no matter what is going on, you have to be able to stay level with yourself. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low.&nbsp;When they see me, they know that I was a human first rather than an athlete. You’re able to take something from my journey to be able to enlighten and help your journey. I ultimately want people to take that away from my legacy.&nbsp;MARJON You’re also competing during a really interesting time within women’s sports. There’s so much attention being given to you all. How does it feel to be performing and existing at this time?&nbsp;SHA’CARRI I’m honored to see that women [athletes] are getting the recognition. Not even comparing it to men, because the men are phenomenal athletes. They deserve the attention that they get. But now women are getting that same level of attention throughout the world, not [just] amongst [other] athletes.&nbsp;The world is wanting to get to know us more. I am glad and I feel more appreciated being a part of this era.&nbsp;We’re also showing more personality now. We’re also saying we’re really women. When we step on the court, when we’re on the track, when we’re in&nbsp;the field, no matter what event we’re doing, we’re going to still bring that same level of competition, skill and discipline into whatever we’re doing.&nbsp;But also at the same time, being able to show, “Hey, we live lives too!”MARJON It’s very exciting to see you broaden your work beyond just the track. How do you define success beyond winning a medal?&nbsp;SHA’CARRI I’m glad that you asked me that question, because I feel like&nbsp;my answer is “never.” Success would never be to win a medal. I define success as being able to accomplish everything that I’ve been working on.&nbsp;No matter how small it may be. It may be that l’ve been trying to plant this plant for a month now and I finally get around to it. That’s a win for me. If I’m just applying myself to what I said that I want, I feel like it’s a win. Putting myself into something and actually getting out of it the work I put into it, I feel like it’s a win for me.&nbsp;MARJON Last question: I am curious about how you put your looks together for the meets? We are all anticipating your speed, but also your looks and your style.&nbsp;SHA’CARRI Any of my styles, they’re very spontaneous and they go highly based off my emotions and around the timing of what I’m preparing to do. You guys find out only a couple hours after I do!&nbsp;

The champion sprinter’s thoughts on finding inner peace, the value of letting go, and the legacy she wants to leave.

Sha’Carri Richardson’s Incredible Journey

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 meters.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 on 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 sports. 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 Olympics. 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 the first grade.&nbsp;My 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. Me and Henrik both learned 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 honor, 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

For designer and Converse CONS skateboarder Alexis Sablone, where you ride is just as important as how you ride it.&nbsp;Skateboarding is built on encountering public spaces and seeing what others do not. A statue ledge becomes the perfect place to try a nose slide. A bottomless staircase is the platform to huck yourself down and land a legendary aerial. In skate, public sites and visual sight go hand in hand.&nbsp;This summer in Paris, skate will be in the world’s eye; it’s maybe the most public sporting event that exists. So when Alexis was asked to design the crests for this year’s skate federation kits, she wanted to create designs that finely illustrated the relationship between skaters and the places where they ride.&nbsp;

Last year, Alexis got the call from Nike SB designers to design three crests for the national federation kits: one for the United States, one for Japan, and an agnostic kit that wasn’t affiliated with any country. Her background as a multidisciplinary artist made her uniquely qualified for the job. Her experience as a competitor in Tokyo four years ago reminded her of an innate trait that carries into her professional life: competitiveness. Knowing skaters would wear the crests proudly on their chests in Paris, she set a personal standard of perfection for the designs.&nbsp;“I’m a very driven, goal-oriented person,” says Alexis. “Not because I want to be. I think I’m just built that way. In Tokyo, I skated the best I could — performed even better than I thought I would, but in hindsight, it’s still hard to not see all the ways you might’ve done better. For better or for worse, I approach design projects in much the same way. I set impossible standards and iterate endlessly until I arrive at something that feels right.”&nbsp;

Looking Back to Move Forward

To begin the designs, Alexis started with narrative. She reflected on skateboarding’s proud roots in the United States dating back to the 1950s, when California surfers created a way to carve on land when the waves were flat. For a skate crest, then, patriotism had to be fun. Serious history couldn’t be too serious. She decided to make bald eagles the muse for the American kits — and she had them jamming on a saxophone. The playful choice nodded to the improvisational nature of skate.&nbsp;

The crest on the USA skateboarding federation kit celebrates the freeform experimentation and improvisation that continue shaping skate culture today.

Drawing on Alexis’ design background, the collections feature three key pieces tied to today’s international culture of skate: a bowler shirt, Parisian-inspired chore coat and relaxed-fit denim pant.

“I wanted to create enough range that there might be a style for every skater, from louder and more graphic-heavy pieces to more subtle and subdued, but still with some character,” says Alexis.

A look at the range of USA apparel in this year’s collection.

For Alexis, the crests differed from her other skate-industry projects, like creating graphics on apparel, giving art direction for shoots and designing skateable sculptures. Place and pride had to share the stage. The crests needed to speak to an entire country as much as they did to a single individual.&nbsp;“I wanted to create enough range that there might be a style for every skater, from louder and more graphic-heavy pieces to more subtle and subdued, but still with some character,” she says.&nbsp;The agnostic kit gave Alexis the opportunity to explore another skate narrative: the sport’s growing community. The design features a pair of chameleons connected by a wavy illustration of the globe, surrounded by four unique species of orchids, one of the most diverse and unpredictable plants on the planet.&nbsp;“My reasoning for chameleons was simple,” says Alexis. “Skateboarding is a diverse and growing community, and skaters can look any number ways. Beyond that, the act of skateboarding is about constantly seeking out interesting conditions in the urban environment and finding ways to creatively interact and adapt.”&nbsp;

Mirroring the Community

The diversity that the agnostic crest represents is a big change from the skating world in which Alexis grew up. She describes skating as a 9-year-old in the small town of Old Saybrook, Conn., as a mostly solo pursuit. Finding a local skate community as a new rider was hard. (“Finding other female riders was almost impossible,” she adds). Now, almost three decades into her skate career, she’s seen the community embrace riders from all backgrounds, all experience levels and all communities, whether they were connected by a zip code or a screen. Consider that the fastest-growing demographic of new skaters by a landslide is young women. Finding a skate community has never been easier. More riders from all walks of life are gathering at the skate park, the local skate shop or the city plaza.&nbsp;

“My reasoning for chameleons was simple,” says Alexis. “Skateboarding is a diverse and growing community, and skaters can look any number ways.”

Alexis chose to feature chameleons in a crest designed for skaters across the globe.

The federation-agnostic collection includes an assortment of tees, polos, hoodies, overalls and more.

Alexis views her love for architecture as a natural connection to her intrinsic sense of place as a skater and as a designer for the federation crests. She obtained her master’s degree in architecture from MIT in 2016 without the intention of designing for the skate industry, she says. It took her awhile to put together that skaters have an inherent interest in public spaces — the accessible cityscapes that many would never think twice about. The alleyway, the eerie courtyard, the stairs with steps that are uncomfortably spaced apart. This fascination with the accessibility of skateable places is what motivated her to design skateable sculptures in cities.&nbsp;“The beauty of skateboarding is that it offers a new way to see and explore the city,” says Alexis. “One way to activate and enliven cities is to make them more skate-friendly through legalization and a more open-minded attitude toward allowing skaters in existing spaces, as well as through the design of new skateable public art and architecture.”&nbsp;

That reasoning is partly why, for Alexis, the federation crests represent more than a patch on a jersey. They express whole communities that will descend in one geographical spot this summer — the famous Place de la Concorde, in the heart of Paris — to put on a show for everyone watching.&nbsp;“Skate culture has developed around a genuine obsession with seeking out and interacting with the spaces in the city. From that simple practice, a growing, resilient community has flourished. With everything I design, I reach for similar qualities: genuine and resilient. Simple, honest designs that will hold up over time. My process is guided more by intuition than formula. I want people to see these designs in Paris and feel like they could have existed 15 years ago or 15 years from now.”&nbsp;

For designer and Converse CONS skateboarder Alexis Sablone, where you ride is just as important as how you ride it.

Making It

Anything But Uniform: Behind the Design of This Year’s Skate Federation Kits

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 mouthguard. 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 36 competitors on the <a href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/championing-all-athletes-nike-teams-with-olympic-refuge-foundation" rel="noopener noreferrer">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 36 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 to 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 jump rope 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 colored 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 realized 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 medaled. I realized midway through one of my matches that I was overthinking 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 African national junior championships in 2007 at 5,000 meters. 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 track club experience.&nbsp; “What looks like a good path for promising female runners can be a traumatizing 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 organization founded in 2022 and based in Nyahururu City. Mary wanted to help provide young Kenyan women an opportunity for success in semiprofessional running through a supportive, 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 traveling 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 organization seeks to create pathways for young women to succeed in running at the semiprofessional 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 program’s most critical overhead costs. Other money would go toward 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 an figure from their real life, they’re more likely to pursue the career. Witnessing these alternate paths can open up a world of options for young girls.&nbsp;Mary scrutinized 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 European photographer and Mary's husband. He remembers a conversation she 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 houses so that these girls can picture themselves being photographers too.” The same approach held true for occupations like physical therapists, or physios. Rather than enlisting male physios to join the camp, Mary and her staff sought out female physios for young girls to 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 program’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 finish 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 mom 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 toward 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 firsthand 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 moms about the features they wanted in a performance nursing bra. “I think a really powerful insight was realizing 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 right 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 rib cage 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 moms cool during movement, while an adjustable back strap accommodates an expanding rib cage.

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 moms: 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 postpartum shoe can be slipped on hands-free and has a proprietary adjustable sock liner 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 recognize 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 moms all the benefits they needed, Ho and her team brought both elite and everyday athletes into the Nike Sport Research Lab — the epicenter 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 diaper 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 mom, 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.

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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 mesmerized 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 skate parks 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 favorite 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 board slide] 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 practicing, and I realized 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, pants 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 building in Beaverton, Ore., Nike designers huddle around a table studying a 3D-printed shoe prototype for Victor Wembanyama’s size 21 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 run a fissure-shaped Nike Air unit never before used 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 color 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.

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