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

There is no athlete like Oksana Masters. The 36-year-old is now the most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian of all time — and the most decorated American athlete ever to compete in both the Summer and Winter Paralympics.She earned her first medal in rowing at the 2012 Summer Games in London and collected four golds in para biathlon and para cross-country skiing in the 2026 Winter Games in Milano Cortina, bringing her total count to 24. Across four sports and two seasons, Masters has built a career defined by movement between summer and winter competition, over more than a decade of elite performance. What defines her career isn’t just the medal count. Masters has repeatedly rebuilt her body and her training, returning to competition after surgeries and setbacks that forced her to start over. She has solidified a lasting legacy through a simple but demanding principle: the willingness to begin again. Here, she reflects in her own words on reinvention, resilience and what winning means to her now.

What I’ve learned is that I’m not attached to comfort, I’m attached to growth. Constant transition forces you to let go of who you were in the last season and what you knew. Your body changes, your training changes, your goals evolve. You don’t get to stay the expert for long. You have to be willing to be a beginner again — and I love that phase. I’ve learned that I thrive in that space.When I think about what feels most central to who I am as an athlete today, it’s not just one medal, one podium, or even a specific sport. It’s the process of constantly starting over. I’ve had to rebuild my body more times than I can count — after surgeries, after injuries, after setbacks that literally forced me back to square one. Every season has demanded a different version of me.&nbsp;Resetting each season has taught me adaptability. It’s taught me how to listen to my body, how to trust the process and how to separate my identity from one sport or one result. I’m not defined by snow or summer. I’m defined by my mindset. The transition keeps me hungry. It keeps me curious. It reminds me that growth happens when you’re willing to shift, learn, rebuild and be uncomfortable.

Moving between seasons isn’t a disruption. It’s a rhythm. And I’ve learned how to move with it instead of resisting it. That’s the key.Representing Team USA has always carried a responsibility that goes far beyond a race or a result. When I line up on a start line, I’m not just carrying my own story. I’m carrying the people who believed in me when the path didn’t exist yet. The adaptive athletes who are still fighting for access and opportunity and the next generation who might be watching and wondering if there’s space for them in sport. That’s something I feel every time I compete.&nbsp;Competing in the Paralympics isn’t pressure in a negative way — it’s purpose. It reminds me that showing up matters. If someone sees themselves in that moment and realizes that their story or their body doesn’t disqualify them from dreaming big, then everything I’ve been through has meaning beyond my own career.Heading into another Paralympic moment, I don’t feel defined by gold medals. I feel defined by the quiet mornings, the training-in-the-dark sessions, the moments when no one was watching and quitting would have been so much easier. That’s where the real work lives. That’s what has built every podium for me.I’m an athlete who refuses to let circumstances decide what’s possible or define my ceiling. I’m someone who keeps evolving, keeps pushing and will always keep showing up.Innovation has always been part of what makes longevity in sport possible. As athletes, we’re constantly learning how to adapt, whether that’s new training methods, new technology or new ways of understanding our bodies. Those advances create opportunities to push boundaries that once felt fixed.

For me, evolution is essential. When equipment, science and support systems continue to improve, it allows athletes to keep raising the level of performance and to stay competitive longer than people once thought possible.Every race is a new moment. Everything that came before it — the setbacks, the injuries, the training — all comes down to those few minutes where you get to test yourself again. There’s something incredibly powerful about that reset. It reminds me why I fell in love with sport in the first place. It’s not about perfection. It’s about seeing what happens when preparation meets belief.

Early in my career, success meant proving I belonged. It meant medals. It meant podiums — something tangible I could hold and say, “See, I earned this.” I carried so much of my story with me that I felt like I had to validate it every time I stepped onto that start line. But now success looks very different. Success is about impact. It’s about creating change for para-athletes, building opportunities, pushing for accessibility and making sure every ability has a place in sport. It’s about showing the world there’s no right or wrong way to line up at the start.If I can change one life —&nbsp;shift one person’s perspective on how they see themselves and what they believe they’re capable of — that’s my biggest win now. I still want to win. That fire hasn’t changed and never will. But today success is bigger than me. Medals are moments. Impact is the legacy.

The Nike athlete, and now most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian, has repeatedly rebuilt her body and her training, returning to competition after surgeries and setbacks that forced her to start over. Here, she reflects on resilience and what winning means to her now.

For The Win

Oksana Masters on Reinvention and the Power of Starting Again

About Nike - Stories from Inside NIKE, Inc.

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

Not every breakthrough in sports science begins in a lab. For Nike’s iconic waffle sole — one of running’s most game-changing innovations — it began in the kitchen.It was 1971 and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/stories/bill-bowerman-nike-s-original-innovator" target="_blank">Bill Bowerman</a> was wrestling with a problem he’d been turning over in his mind ever since a hard, slick new urethane track had been installed at the University of Oregon two years prior, which was injuring runners. Bowerman had to face a reality: He had chosen a track surface that wasn’t holding up, and he needed to find a fix. How could his runners get better grip? Spikes dug in too deep; flats didn’t bite enough.One morning, while glancing at his wife, Barbara’s, waffle iron — a Model 251 by Bersted Manufacturing Company, which the Bowermans had received as a wedding gift in 1936 — he was struck by the grid pattern. The raised squares seemed like the exact geometry that could deliver the lightweight traction he’d been chasing.He poured liquid urethane straight into the family waffle iron, only it instantly glued shut permanently, ruining their 35-year-old wedding present. Undeterred, he drove into town, bought several more secondhand waffle irons, and kept experimenting. Those first imprints came out inverted with concave bumps, but they sparked the idea that would lead him to refine molds and materials until a workable prototype finally emerged.

What resulted was the first version of the Nike Moon Shoe — a design that would shape the future of running for decades.“The waffle sole changed everything,” says Nike Running Historian Rick Lower. “Not only did it transform how runners thought about traction and cushioning but it showed people what Nike was about: solving problems in new ways.”

A Catalyst for the Future

In 1971, Nike, then still known as Blue Ribbon Sports, an American importer of Japanese running shoes, hadn’t yet become the global force in sports innovation that it is today. The fledgling company was still finding its footing, and Bowerman — co-founder, coach and relentless tinkerer — was at the center of that push. To him, every surface was a problem waiting for a solution.&nbsp;That included the new Astroturf laid down at Autzen Stadium, where the Oregon Ducks football team struggled for traction. In wet conditions, players often ditched their cleats for basketball shoes with a herringbone outsole that gripped better. Bowerman and teammate Jeff Johnson began exploring traction ideas for football as well as track, a line of thinking that would lead to the Astrograbber — a shoe prototyped in 1972 and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-bode-rec-astrograbber-official-images" target="_blank">reissued decades later</a>.“There had been no real innovation in outsoles for decades,” says Nike Running Historian Rick Lower. “Running shoes were basically just a sheet of rubber to protect your feet from the road, and traction and cushioning were secondary. Bowerman wasn’t willing to accept that.”Inspired by the moment in his kitchen, he began pulling in a network of local resources to help refine the molds and materials — tire shops, machinists, cobblers. Early prototypes disintegrated after only minutes of running. Others left athletes with cut ankles from exposed wire that was embedded in the rubber mixture for traction. Yet each failed attempt nudged the idea closer to the finish line.

By November 1971, the waffle sole had its first taste of competition when members of Oregon’s cross-country team wore early versions to win the NCAA title. Through the winter and spring of 1972, more college&nbsp;and local South Eugene high school&nbsp;athletes quietly tested pairs. By the following summer, Bowerman and Geoff Hollister were hand-cobbling a small batch of prototypes for a bigger stage: the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene.They weren’t perfect, especially not for the marathon level. “It was basically just an upper stitched to a thin sheet of waffle,” Lower says. “So minimal it was like running barefoot.” Still, a handful of brave runners laced them up. Some thought the waffle sole footprints looked like astronauts’ footprints on the moon, becoming part of the lore that gave the prototypes their now-iconic nickname: the Moon Shoe.For the fast-growing company, it was a pivotal moment. Even if the shoe wasn’t ready for mass release, it was proof the idea worked and evidence that this small Oregon company could push running footwear in an entirely new direction.

The Bridge to a Running Movement

The Moon Shoe itself never went to market, though a few pairs are believed to have been sold out of Nike’s Eugene retail store, making it possible to have snagged one if you were in the right place at the right time. But the shoe’s DNA spread quickly. By 1973, Nike released the Oregon Waffle. Two years later came the Waffle Trainer, Nike’s first blockbuster success.Designed by Bill Bowerman and Geoff Hollister, as well as famed Bowerman collaborators orthopedic surgeon Stan James and podiatrist Dennis Vixie, the Waffle Trainer became Nike’s most popular running model. It was created at the request of runner Jon Anderson, who wanted a more substantial training shoe, but went well beyond satisfying Anderson’s needs — it became the best-selling training shoe in the country. By 1975, orders had topped 100,000 units, and its blue upper with a yellow Swoosh became one of the defining looks of Nike’s early years. To this day, it remains emblematic of Nike in the 1970s.

The milestone sneaker didn’t just give everyday runners better grip. With a flared sole and a new cushioning sensation unlike anything they’d felt before, it changed expectations of what a running shoe could be.“That shoe was the bridge,” Lower explains. “It took the Moon Shoe’s experiment and turned it into a global product. From there Nike’s reputation as an innovator was cemented.”But it wasn’t the end for the Moon Shoe. After making its revival on Nike collaborator and French designer Jacquemus's runway last January, the iconic silhouette was reimagined for a new generation. Sleek and fashion-forward, the new sneaker, coming soon, bridges performance heritage and style with speed, capturing the same restless drive that defined its earliest incarnation. What was once vaulted as Nike's racing DNA is now primed for the future.

Long Live Experimentation and Innovation

The waffle iron tale might have stayed legend if not for a discovery decades later. When Bowerman’s son Tom renovated the family property in Coburg, Oregon, he unearthed a long-forgotten rubbish pit near the carport. Inside were discarded prototypes, molds and the rusted shell of the waffle iron Barbara Bowerman had tossed after Bill glued it shut.&nbsp;Today, that iron rests in the Department of Nike Archives at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., acting as a reminder of the kitchen tinkering that became the blueprint for Nike’s approach and long-term success: experiment boldly, keep refining and never stop pushing forward.

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

Created from the experimentation and ingenuity of Nike's co-founder Bill Bowerman, the Nike Moon Shoe's unique design would shape the future of running for decades.

Feature

From Waffle Iron to World Stage: The True Story of the Nike Moon Shoe

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

The Handshake That Started It All

The Beginning

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

The Hamburger of Runners

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

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

From Track to Business

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

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

History

At the base of K2, the world’s second-highest peak, two American climbers sat among their gear, snow-streaked ridgelines rising behind them. Their faces were lean from 68 days on the mountain. Both wore yellow Nike Long Distance Vectors (LDVs) — one of the brand’s top long-distance running shoes at the time — which looked as battered as the climbers themselves. A picture was needed to mark the moment; one of the men raised a thumb toward the camera. The photograph, taken by mountaineering photographer Dianne Roberts in 1978, would go on to become one of Nike’s most unexpected origin stories.

An Unlikely Sponsorship

Months earlier, Nike had quietly supplied the expedition with those lightweight trainers, a last-minute gift meant for the 110-mile approach to basecamp. “A lot of it was off-trail,” recalled Rick Ridgeway, one of the climbers in the photo and a leading American alpinist of the era. “You can imagine they were pretty trashed by the time we got there.”In those years, most climbers relied on stiff leather boots built in Europe. The LDVs were the opposite: soft, breathable and fast. “They were just more flexible and more comfortable,” Ridgeway said. “What was really cool about those LDVs is that you need to hop around on rocks. This was a rough hike so you could boulder hop. They breathed better. They were functionally superior to the more rigid traditional trekking shoe.”

Internally, Nike referred to the model as the “Long Distance Vixie” because Eugene podiatrist Dennis Vixie made the last. Externally, it was known as the Long Distance Vector.At the time, Nike hadn’t yet stepped into the outdoor business — the shoes had simply been a goodwill gesture for the expedition. No one could have predicted that they would plant the seed for an entirely new category.

By the time the team descended, the fabric sneakers had nearly fallen apart. Ridgeway and Roskelley held them together with tape and glue for the long walk back to the roadhead. “Being up that high for that long without oxygen, it was hard,” Ridgeway remembered. “But we made it. And on the way out, we started talking about how the shoe could be modified to make it into a usable trekking shoe.”When they returned home, the climbers mailed their blown-out LDVs to Nike along with a short list of suggested improvements, including a tougher sole and more rugged upper, while still keeping the shoe lightweight and flexible. Those notes would help spark Nike’s first outdoor footwear line and, eventually, the category that became <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-reintroduces-acg-all-conditions-gear" target="_blank">All Conditions Gear</a> (ACG).

From Climb to Concept

Nike’s design team took the climbers’ feedback to heart. The field-worn LDVs had proven that lighter footwear could thrive where only heavy boots once ruled. The idea that “light is right” began to ripple through the brand’s ranks.By 1981, that thinking produced three shoes that merged the best of Nike running with durability for rough terrain: the Lava Dome, the Approach and the Magma. Nike’s first shoe to use a GORE-TEX lining; the design shape would later inform early thinking behind the Air Force 1. “It became very apparent that world-class athletes [were] going really lightweight,” recalled product manager Monte Mayko, who helped lead the project from Nike’s Exeter, New Hampshire factory. “It made total sense.”

Inspired by the K2 photograph and the climbers’ firsthand notes, the Nike team reimagined what a hiking shoe could be. The result was a category shift toward performance minimalism. “The whole notion of light is right and less is more and functional minimalism — climbers really get that at their core,” explained Kirk Richardson, a lifelong mountaineer who would later lead ACG. “Nike intuitively got it. Bowerman and Knight were absolutely right.” The new designs, built in Exeter and Saco, Maine, featured lightweight uppers, waffle soles and durable midsoles derived directly from Nike’s running heritage. For climbers and trail runners, they felt revolutionary: fast, flexible and protective enough to take the punishment of rock and scree. “Turning a training shoe into a trekking shoe. Nobody had done that,” Ridgeway later said. “It was kind of revolutionary.”

As those early designs hit the market, Ridgeway continued testing prototypes and corresponding with Nike designers. “They’d send me a prototype of the shoes to try out so I field tested them,” he recalled. One of those early ads — the first print campaign for Nike Outdoor — used Roberts’ K2 photograph of Ridgeway and Roskelley. The caption read: “Not everyone was willing to wait for our hiking boots."

The Big Ascent

By the mid-1980s, Nike’s outdoor experiments had evolved from one-off projects into a legitimate design philosophy. Yet without a unifying category, they remained scattered, a mix of hiking boots, trail runners and small-batch apparel experiments without a single name or purpose.That began to change in 1987 when a small internal team was tasked with formalizing Nike’s outdoor efforts. According to Tom Clarke, then vice president of product marketing, Nike had been talking about being in the outdoor business for some time and had a stable of avid outdoor people around product management.

The team saw an opening in a market dominated by European legacy brands still building heavy, rigid gear for mountaineering specialists. An opportunity to create athletic gear designed for movement in all conditions.Clarke, Richardson and a small team in Beaverton and Exeter began sketching out a strategy. Footwear and apparel would live under a single collection guided by four principles: high performance, durability, versatility and functional excellence. It was the beginning of a significant shift in performance outdoor footwear that would also make its way into apparel.The idea quickly gained traction. Within two years, a full outdoor business plan emerged.

The Name Takes Hold

Nike’s outdoor plan was coming together, but a fitting name was still missing. Around the same time, Nike Running had begun using the phrase “All Conditions Gear” for a small line of year-round performance apparel — gear designed to handle any weather. The overlap in philosophy caught the Outdoor team’s attention. When Clarke’s group discovered the term, they adopted it to define the new collection, a name that embodied Nike’s commitment to performance regardless of terrain or weather, echoing the same spirit that had driven Ridgeway and Roskelley’s K2 ascent a decade earlier.

By 1989, it became official. Under Richardson’s leadership, ACG launched as a fully integrated line of footwear and apparel designed for athletes who ran, hiked, climbed and explored outdoors.Nike made sure its debut felt authentic. The first catalog shoot took place at Castleton Tower in Moab, Utah, a notorious rock spire revered by climbers. “We wanted to position it as a pretty real brand,” said art director Ron Dumas. “We had these guys climb this tower and so we got in a helicopter. It was just about sunset and I was sitting on the rail holding onto the photographer and he’s hanging out of the helicopter. The tower was beautiful and these guys are just little dots on top. It was phenomenal.”

Released in 1989 as part of ACG’s inaugural product launch, the Huascaran jacket featured a nylon microfiber GORE-TEX shell.

Inspired by Mount Huascarán in Peru, its design included underarm gussets, double storm flaps, cargo pockets and a zip-in liner capability, reflecting ACG’s early focus on durable, all-conditions performance.

Additionally, the warm winter jacket was constructed with a Regulator-lined interior and a snap-off hood.

A decade after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Nike ACG marked the mountain’s irreversible transformation with a before-and-after patch showing a landscape changed forever. Instead of measuring height like other ACG “landmark” pieces, the jacket captured impact, memory and permanence.

Built as an insulation layer within ACG’s late-’80s systems approach, the Mount St. Helens Jacket used thick Polarfleece, ribbed cuffs and a reversible YKK zip to integrate seamlessly with outer shells. Technical and modular by design, it showed how storytelling and function came together in early ACG systems thinking.

This Kilimanjaro Anorak K2 was worn and autographed by climber John Roskelley, one of the two Americans photographed at K2 basecamp in LDVs whose trek later appeared in an early 1980s poster and in a 1989 ACG ad.

Built with two- and three-layer GORE-TEX and a nylon microfiber shell, the anorak included reinforced yokes, underarm gussets and multiple zip pockets, reflecting the technical design ethos that shaped ACG’s early years.

When the first ACG collection dropped that fall, anchored by the Air Wildwood, Lava High and a series of Gore-Tex and fleece outerwear pieces, Nike had officially staked its flag in the outdoor market.

The photograph of two climbers at the base of K2 had become something larger: the spark that ignited an entirely new dimension for Nike.

The wild moment that sparked Nike’s first outdoor footwear line and, eventually, the category that became All Conditions Gear.

The Birth of ACG: The Summit that Launched a Legacy

Virgil Abloh’s relationship to Nike began long before he first visited the company’s world headquarters in October 2016 to start a new collaboration. As a teenager, living in Rockford, Illinois, he and his friends sketched shoe ideas and mailed them to Nike. “We were enamored with Air Jordans,” said Abloh in 2017. “Michael Jordan was larger than life — he was Superman to me. My entire design background and ethos came from the ‘90s.”Abloh took his early design education — drawn from athletic footwear, hip-hop and rock album covers and graffiti, he says — and merged it with formal training in architecture and engineering. After becoming a successful creative director, DJ, designer and founder of the brand, OFF-WHITE, Abloh blurred the lines of various creative processes, rewriting the rules of fashion and design and injecting humor and DIY elements into his practice.“By the time I made my first trip to Beaverton, I immediately wanted to make something,” Abloh said. “I didn't wait all those years just to have&nbsp;meetings&nbsp;at Nike.” During the first visit, he rebuilt a pair of triple-black Air Force 1 Low shoes using an X-ACTO knife and drew on them with markers, initiating one-offs for his staff to wear at that December’s Design Miami/, where he presented OFF-WHITE furniture.

This exercise became a quick turn of 12 Air Force 1s, all handmade by Matt Kilgore at Nike’s Blue Ribbon Studios. Abloh wanted the tongue’s inner foam exposed, a silver Swoosh with thick, obvious stitching and text nodding to the shoe’s origins in Beaverton, Oregon.Establishing this reconstructed design language, combined with Abloh’s urgency to fulfill a life-long dream, would ultimately lead to The Ten, a collaborative exploration of 10 Nike footwear silhouettes.“What we're talking about here is larger than sneakers, it’s larger than design culture,” says Abloh. “It’s nothing short of state-of-the-art design. These 10 shoes have broken barriers in performance and style. To me, they are on the same level as a sculpture of David or the&nbsp;Mona Lisa. You can debate it all you want, but they mean something. And that's what's important.”The 10 shoes were divided into two themes. The first, “REVEALING,” was designed to look accessible: hand-cut, open-source and reconstructed. It includes the Air Jordan I, Nike Air Max 90, Nike Air Presto, Nike Air VaporMax and Nike Blazer Mid.The second, “GHOSTING,” was designed with translucent uppers to further the idea of revealing and unite the second set of silhouettes through common material. It includes the Converse Chuck Taylor, Nike Zoom Fly SP, Nike Air Force 1 Low, Nike React Hyperdunk 2017 and Nike Air Max 97.

“Revealing”

Abloh’s quick pace was an ideal match for a rapid Nike Direct timeline, resulting in one of the fastest collaborations Nike has ever completed: 10 shoes in about 10 months from ideation to release. The project officially began with the task of re-imagining five Nike footwear icons — the Air Jordan I, Air Max 90, Air Presto, Nike Air VaporMax and Blazer Mid — within a breakneck schedule. “Most of the creative decisions were made in the first three hours, while actual design and iteration took two to three days,” recalled Abloh. “The Jordan I was done in one design session. I work in a very like dream-like state. I see it, and it's done.”Like with the initial Air Force 1 exercise, the X-ACTO knife was central to this design process. Abloh used it to reveal the foam within each shoes’ respective tongues (and move their Nike labels), move the Swoosh placements (and, at times, enlarge them) and add pops of color through orange tabs (in various locations per shoe).The “REVEALING” aspect of this series was also satisfied through tongue-in-cheek text placements, such as “AIR” on the lateral side of the Nike Air VaporMax, Air Jordan I and Air Presto (referring to Nike Air technology) and “SHOELACES” on the shoe strings.

Though the designs look complex, Abloh said he truly wanted this process — opening up the figurative guts of a shoe to reveal the innovation within — to feel approachable. “Yes, we're making a desired product, but by making a trip to your local store, and using tools you have at home,&nbsp;you could also make this shoe,” said Abloh.This approach articulates a Just Do It mentality — one rooted in working hard to realize one’s own potential. “I spend a tremendous amount of time thinking about the kid in the middle of nowhere who has a passion for design, much like I did,” Abloh said. “He or she needs a path like this to&nbsp;understand&nbsp;design.”

“Ghosting”

Abloh’s work on the Nike Air VaporMax, within the “REVEALING” set, presented an exciting challenge, because, at the time, the shoe hadn’t been released yet. Two more unreleased silhouettes, the Nike Zoom Fly SP and Nike React Hyperdunk 2017, were similarly stimulating in their newness and potential. Abloh was inspired by the cutting-edge cushioning innovations of Breaking2’s Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite&nbsp;<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://store.nike.com/us/en_us/pw/running-shoes/8yzZoi3" target="null">running shoe</a>&nbsp;and basketball’s React Hyperdunk 2017, and decided to introduce an evolution of the reveal called “GHOSTING” using translucent uppers. With these five shoes, including basketball icons that preceded the Hyperdunk (the Converse Chuck Taylor and Nike Air Force 1 Low), and a running icon that preceded the Vaporfly Elite (the Nike Air Max 97), Abloh said he wanted to use a common, semi-revealing material to unite their combined 94-year history.

“My high school years were made up of playing soccer, skateboarding and biking year-round,” said Abloh. “What I've learned from playing sports and also being obsessed with design is that there is an inherent style and focus that exists amongst athletes and designers alike: What propels them to be the best comes from deep within.”The open-source nature of The Ten, through a reconstruction of footwear released by Converse, Inc. since 1923, and Nike, Inc. from 1972 to the present, spoke to the true longevity of shoes that have defined sport and sneaker culture. They’ve stood the test of time, and through The Ten, have become collective catalysts from which to understand not just footwear design, but all design.“In one gesture, I wanted to underscore how the design system and manufacturing of Nike are so perfect,” said Abloh. “By combining these shoes with design that amplifies their ‘handmade’ quality, we’re intensifying the human element and expanding the emotional connection of these 10 icons.”

Abloh's singular design language, combined with his urgency to fulfill a life-long dream, would ultimately lead to The Ten, a collaborative exploration of 10 Nike footwear silhouettes.

Icons

The History of Virgil Abloh's “The Ten”

In 1971, Watergate was just a hotel, NASA was preparing Apollo 15, and a small Oregon company had just sold its first pair of shoes.The shoe — a football boot called “the Nike” — retailed for $16.95. Its defining feature was a checkmark-shaped stripe created by a Portland State University student for $35. Few noticed the shoe, but the mark would long outlast it.At the time, Nike wasn’t yet the global sports brand it would become. Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman were still operating as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), a small distributor of Japanese running shoes. But contracts with their supplier were winding down, and Knight knew the company’s future depended on more than someone else’s product. To succeed, BRS needed a shoe of its own — and with it, an identity.That February, Knight contracted a factory in Mexico to produce a black soccer cleat with a white sole. To distinguish it from Onitsuka Tiger models, he needed a brand mark. He turned to Carolyn Davidson, a design student he’d met while teaching accounting at Portland State.

Two years earlier, Davidson had been overheard in a hallway telling a classmate she couldn’t afford an oil painting course. Knight offered her $2 an hour to make charts and graphics for his side business. Over time, she created ads, brochures and catalogs. Now he asked her for something bigger: a stripe for the side of a shoe.

Davidson sketched half a dozen options. In a Tigard, Oregon, office, Knight gathered two employees to review them, including Jeff Johnson, Nike’s first full-time hire. None made a strong impression. “It came down to a matter of which was the least awful,” Johnson recalled.The group settled on Davidson’s curving checkmark. She thought it suggested motion. Knight was unconvinced. “Well, I don’t love it,” he told her, “but it will grow on me.”The stripe — not yet called the Swoosh — was rushed to Mexico so production could begin. Davidson sent Knight an invoice for $35.

Those first shoes carried the new mark into the world, but it looked different on nearly every model. On some, the line stretched wide. On others, it pinched tight. One runner joked that the curvier version resembled a “dead fish.” Factories stitched it however they could, and designers adjusted the angle depending on the shoe’s shape.

Yet the stripe was already making appearances in the right places. At the 1972 Boston Marathon, two of the top American finishers crossed the line wearing Nike shoes marked with Davidson’s design — the first confirmed appearance of a Swoosh in a major race. The company highlighted the feat in its marketing materials the following year.Apparel presented another challenge. On shirts and bags, the asymmetry of the mark seemed awkward. Johnson experimented by fanning multiple Swooshes into a circle, creating what became known as the “Sunburst” or “Pinwheel” logo. Borrowed in spirit from the 1972 Olympic design, it gave Nike something bold to put on warm-ups and team gear.

Geoff Hollister, Nike’s third employee —&nbsp;who would go on to pioneer the company’s early marketing efforts —&nbsp;pressed the Sunburst onto singlets and tracksuits. He also applied the Swoosh alone in unconventional ways. In 1974, Steve Prefontaine appeared at a meet in Tacoma, Washington, wearing a tracksuit with a lone, backwards Swoosh across the chest. That marked the first time the logo stood by itself on apparel.In those first years, the design was far from consistent. Some called it the stripe. Others thought it looked strange, even unbalanced. But on marathon finish lines, in Olympic Trials and on the chest of America’s most famous runner, the mark was already doing its job: it was sticking.What began as a reluctant choice — a student’s sketch rushed off to a factory — had become the emblem of Nike’s earliest wins. The Swoosh wasn’t yet the global icon it would become, but it was already proving it had staying power.

In the decades since that first soccer cleat, the Swoosh has taken on countless forms. It was paired with bold Helvetica in the 1970s, broadcast to millions in Dennis Hopper’s 1993 football ads, stretched across Niketown Portland’s architecture, and splashed across caps at Wimbledon. It has been oversized, miniaturized, multiplied and, at times, overused. It has been guarded by Nike’s “brand police,” celebrated by athletes and parodied by critics.Through all those shifts, one through line has remained: the Swoosh endures. What began as a quick sketch by a college student has become one of the most recognized symbols in the world. More than a stripe, it’s a global shorthand for speed, innovation and possibility.

Before Nike was a worldwide sports brand, it was an upstart company in need of an eye-catching visual identity. Here, the real story of the Swoosh.

The Nike Swoosh Logo: From Humble Beginnings to Global Icon

When he debuted the Kobe 3 in 2007, Kobe Bryant subverted expectations, just as expected. The Lakers played an away game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 20, days before the signature players from other brands would reveal their holiday colorways, alight in wintery themes. His Kobe 3: Black. No nonsense.&nbsp;That legacy of stealthy, unsung precursor defines the Kobe 3. It preceded arguably the most influential lowtop in basketball history. It preceded what became Nike Basketball’s “Signature Shoe” in the Hyperdunk, which would debut in the summer of ‘08. And yet, the 3 is immovable in Kobe’s footwear legacy. He wore it for his decisive MVP campaign in the ’07-’08 season. And, talk to any Kobe fan: it’s a cult favorite, raising basketball shoe design to an elevated art form.

<h3>How We Made It</h3>Before the Kobe 3, the Kobe 2 sought to be the most technically advanced footwear in basketball. But its overt technology — modeled after the functionality of Nike Free and barefoot movement — emphasized a kind of science as its aesthetic. Nike Basketball Creative Director Eric Avar, who took back the reigns of the Kobe line with the 3, wanted to fuse performance and artistry into the design of the Kobe 3.“Kobe was probably one of, if not the most progressive players I ever worked with in terms of wanting to push performance technology in design,” says Avar.&nbsp;

But the shoe wasn’t love at first sight. Even Kobe knew the shoe’s design would be polarizing.“When people first saw the shoe, they were like, ‘Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know,” Kobe would remark with a laugh.&nbsp;The Kobe 3 released to the public in 2008 in the Orca colorway. Across the mid top's upper was an all-over pattern of striped TPU caging made to resemble basketball netting. The forefoot and heel Zoom units were bridged by a carbon fiber shank, which helped the shoe maintain its torsional rigidity during sharp movements. The midsole featured Lunarlon Cushioning, a first for the Kobe line. On the outsole tread, the traction pattern was arranged in diamond shapes, inspired by the middle name, Diamante, of Kobe’s daughter Natalia.&nbsp;

<h3>How It Took Off</h3>Kobe Bryant wore the Kobe 3 en route to his MVP award in 2008. In the postseason, he’d lead the Lakers to the NBA Finals, where they fell just short of an NBA title. The season might not have been Bryant’s best statistically, but it was arguably the height of his presence across basketball. He was everywhere in 2008. MVP. First-Team All League. First-Team All League Defense. Co-Captain of Team USA’s Redeem Team. He put together all of the pieces of his game, meanwhile directing his teams as the undisputed Alpha leader.As the releases continued, the shoe took on more expressive looks, thanks to the shoe’s upper design being conducive to an imaginative palette. Christmas Day against the Phoenix Suns featured an unmistakable yellow and purple combination. In the ‘08 All-Star Game, though he only played a few minutes because of a torn ligament in his pinky (Of course he played), he laced up a deep red and gold colorway. In 2013, the Kobe 3 was re-released as part of Nike’s Prelude Pack in the Kobe line. While seven of the shoes were based off of his career milestones, only one shoe was inspired by a setback: the Kobe 3. The black colorway was covered by a custom fresco-style graphic, inspired by the swirling psychological torment that Kobe felt upon losing the 2008 NBA Finals.&nbsp;

<h3>What’s Next</h3>The Kobe 3 is <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/kobe-3-protro-halo-official-images" target="_blank">the latest model to receive the Protro treatment</a>. The upper now has a mesh backing against the TPU netting to provide greater support. The midsole features a full-length Zoom Strobel. The traction has been retooled. Even the tongue was revamped to be more comfortable. No feature was ignored for a modern tech upgrade. It’s maybe the most expansive Protro to date.“We were always pushing the limits of Kobe’s shoe to be faster, more precise and to be modern,” says Avar. “Kobe was big on being bold, aggressive, provocative and making an impact. Working together, we were on a never-ending quest for the perfect shoe from him.”

A legacy as stealthy, unsung precursor defines the Kobe III. And yet, it's immovable in Kobe’s footwear legacy.

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JuJu Watkins On Her Natural Competitive Advantage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What would the back of your athlete trading card say? That’s what the Nike Sport Research Lab's Baseline testing is for: A way for all athletes to understand their physical tools.

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

John Shiel

Sport Science

Next Level

The NSRL Baseline Testing

Every image tells a story. Here, a Nike photographer breaks down one of their favorite photographs and the unique sport moment it represents.

Photographer Geoff Lowe reflects on the Nike Cross Nationals

Geoff Lowe on building his NXN composite shot

“The finish line of a cross-country meet turns into a canvas of exhausted bodies. It’s a scene where runners are finally coming to terms with giving their full effort. This year would be my first time shooting <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://about.nike.com/en/magazine/nike-cross-nationals-2024-official-images" target="_blank">Nike Cross Nationals</a> in Portland. The anticipation for this shot in particular began weeks before the event. I knew I wanted to use an overhead drone at the finish line, and I knew I wanted to make a composite image of the men’s and women’s races, so I could share the unified experience of the runners completely gassed at the end.In reality, I was going to have one to two minutes to get the shots I wanted after each race, when the competitors made it to the finish line. I worked ahead of time to fly the drone directly above the finish line and above the NXN logo with an unobstructed view. But there were a lot of things I had to consider, like accounting for the gusting winds, the possible changes in exposure as the light changed with the moving clouds, and coordinating air space with the other drone pilots, to name a few. As I started piecing the image together, I knew it was getting at the emotion I wanted: showing the exhaustion from these runners in their pursuit of glory, giving everything they had.”

— Geoff Lowe See more of Geoff’s work on Instagram <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.instagram.com/geofflowe/" target="_blank" class="ql-size-small">@geofflowe</a>

Geoff Lowe is a dynamic sports photographer originally from South Africa, now based in Italy. With a background in track and field, he brings a unique insider’s perspective to his photography, capturing the emotion, rhythm, and intensity of athletes in motion. His images go beyond documentation; they turn athletic performance into visual poetry. Known for his artistic composite technique, Lowe uses ultra-fast sequences to create layered images that reveal movement over time — sprinting, jumping, swimming, and diving — all unfolding in a single frame.

Geoff Lowe

Nike Cross Nationals famously takes everything a cross-country runner's got — here's what the sum of that looks like across dozens of runners, from photographer Geoff Lowe.

The Nike Moment

What It Looks Like to Finish On Empty

In running shoe jargon,&nbsp;pronation&nbsp;is a word that gets a bad rap. If you pronate, the thinking goes, you need correction. But there’s more going on than that.<h3>How to Understand It</h3>Everybody pronates when they run. “It’s a natural motion,” says Emily Farina, PhD, Senior Principal Researcher in the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL). With each step, your foot rolls inward and a bit forward as it hits the ground. Technically, this is what pronation is: a combination of ankle eversion and external rotation.&nbsp;What’s the point of pronation? When you walk or run, your ankle needs to help stabilize your body mass as your foot crashes into the ground. That stabilization requires three-dimensional movement at the ankle to act like a shock absorber and keep the body headed where it wants to go.

Pronation is one step in the sequence of how we run, says Farina. It can’t be isolated from the rest of your body. “When we design and test our running shoes, we study pronation holistically and look up the kinetic chain to examine effects at the knee. Then we research how pronation can be supported through product choice.”The kinetic chain, which is how your joints, muscles and other parts of the body work together to produce force and movement, treats your body as a system. Each part of your body has a role to play. Take your ankle. It might roll from side to side too fast, too much, or at the wrong time in relationship to the rest of your body. For eversion, when the ankle rolls inward, the research is mixed on the outcomes of trying to mitigate it. But literature suggests that for those who need it,&nbsp;focusing on ankle motion and&nbsp;the forces acting on your knee from either side are important to cut back on running-related injuries. It’s not&nbsp;either-or but&nbsp;and, because&nbsp;not all joints move in the same way.&nbsp;Your ankle can handle some eversion. Your knee isn’t meant to torque sideways.&nbsp;Again, think of the kinetic chain. The body is a system.To address pronation and still help reduce the pounding from running, it’s essential to solve for both cushioning and stability, which is what NSRL researchers have done in the new Structure 26.How We Approach ItTo keep your ankle from being too&nbsp;loose, you’ll find a host of “stability shoes” throughout the market, many of which&nbsp;try to address the ankle-movement issue with features that focus on the angle of eversion, or how much your ankle is moving side to side. The most extreme of these “motion control” stability shoes use medial posting — tough components that are attached to a rigid midsole — to force your ankle through a more limited range of motion. But research from the NSRL has found that this can send harmful loads up the chain to the knee.Nike designers found a more natural approach to controlling eversion in the Structure 26.&nbsp;

Structure 26 in the NSRL

Here, the foot’s arch sits above a wide base and is wrapped in a supportive midfoot system. The midsole has a full bed of ReactX foam, which helps you roll forward smoothly from heel to toe-off (the Structure 25 had a Zoom Air unit in the forefoot and Cushlon 3.0 throughout the midsole). The shoe’s outsole has added rubber in areas that can get worn down due to the ankle’s side-to-side movement, like the inside edge of the heel. All of this gives the Structure 26 increased durability and can help lead the runner through a more confident eversion pattern.&nbsp;The true pronation needs for each runner come down to a combination of perception and personal history, says Farina.“Our research tells us a few things hold true: Find the right balance of cushioning with inherent stability, and you can help a runner address their unique pronation pattern."

A Nike running expert unpacks a common misconception.

Ask a Sport Scientist

Is It Bad That I Pronate When I Run?

The 200-meter track in the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL) is more than a workout space. It’s a supercharged testing environment that allows Nike scientists to study how athletes move while wearing new shoes and technologies — and how to make those products the best in the industry.

<h3>What It Does</h3>Look up, and you’ll see one example of the track’s capabilities: Above the two lanes and rigged onto steel erectors is a collection of high-res motion-capture (“mo-cap”) cameras that can collect 250 snapshots of reflective marker data per second as an athlete moves around the track. Look down: Force plates situated beneath the track’s rubber surface collect up to 2,500 contact-force data points per second as an athlete hits the ground.NSRL researchers can set an LED pace light system, or “rabbit,” along the track’s innermost lane for paces from casual walking all the way to simulating world record times. The track also has practical features ideal for testing product across a variety of surfaces. For example, both the backstretch and the homestretch have a concrete lane to simulate running on sidewalks and roads.

<h3>What It Helps Us Do</h3>An athlete like Faith Kipyegon makes running look effortless. The NSRL track's capabilities help scientists quantify the poetry of her elite athleticism. Last year, in preparation for her attempt to break the four-minute mile, Kipyegon visited the NSRL, undergoing multiple tests on the track. Scientists placed mo-cap sensors over her body to analyze how a range of Nike spike prototypes influenced her gait pattern. In another test, a data-informed resistance sprint device was attached to Kipyegon to measure her power output at full speed. Near the track, Nike researchers tapped into an array of testing tools to measure Kipyegon's aerobic and anaerobic profile, such as her V02 max.

Faith visited the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL) for tests that would guide the team in creating one-of-one products to help her achieve her goal of breaking the 4-minute mile.

An athlete's foot strike can change from spike prototype to prototype, so researchers placed mo-cap sensors across Kipyegon's footwear to see how her spike selection influenced her running efficiency.

Above the NSRL track is a collection of high-res motion-capture cameras collecting 250 snapshots of reflective marker data per second as an athlete moves around the loop.

Testing for Breaking4

Nike uses nuanced testing environments like the track to study not just the traits of elite athletes, but the types of wearable technologies that can help every athlete move more efficiently. Enter Project Amplify, a powered footwear system designed to act like an e-bike for the human body. Nike research teams logged most of its 1,500 miles from test participants on the NSRL track. That’s more than 12,000 laps, with data measured from over 2.4 million steps.&nbsp;To keep up with the participants, Nike scientists actually used a motorized scooter and rode around the track during experiments to log real-time data on the device.

The world’s first powered footwear system for running and walking, Project Amplify is designed to augment natural lower leg and ankle movement, acting almost like a second set of calf muscles.

Project Amplify

When Nike researchers create the sports innovations of the future, they tap into this one-of-one space.

For Tony Finau, Going the Distance is a Mindset

The NSRL Baseline Testing

What It Looks Like to Finish On Empty

Is It Bad That I Pronate When I Run?

The NSRL Fieldhouse Track

The NSRL Environmental Chambers

A Radical Solution for the World’s Greatest Marathoner

5 Questions With Fashion Designer Melitta Baumeister

Inside the Nike Mind Team That Turned Neuroscience Into Footwear

How Can I Become a Better Runner?

One Year In, the CEO of Sport Is Taking Nike Back to Its Roots

The LeBron James Innovation Center