Faith Kipyegon and Her Breaking4 Pacers Minutes Before History

"I think this photograph shows the ethos of the Breaking4 project — runner Faith Kipyegon’s attempt to break the 4-minute mile. This race meant more than a time, a competition, beating others. It showed young girls and woman that they can believe in themselves and dream big. I took this shot minutes before the race started. Faith had completed her warm-up, got her Nike suit and spikes on and was ready to go. The pacers were about to be called up to enter the stadium, and Faith had a moment to herself. She was walking nervously around, putting her head on the table. On the other side of the call room, the pacers were mingling and chatting. Even though she was divided physically in a room, this was a project that was done together.

I was personally invested in it too. I’d been following Faith’s Breaking4 journey for months prior to the attempt. Visiting her, together with the Nike team in Kenya, to capture her extensive training sessions, as well as the process and the innovation side of the moonshot. For the attempt itself, in Stade Charléty in Paris, the pressure was high to get the shots I needed but not disrupt Faith’s focus. When I took this image, I was roaming, photographing the pacers, and giving Faith space. Then I saw this framing: Faith alone in the call room, clearly nervous, surrounded by walls, which seem to make the intensity of being trapped within her own anxiousness even stronger. She is in the spotlight, the light shining on her. Then, the contrast to the pacers, ready to be called out, without the constraints of the walls, wearing pink, smiling, and mingling together, in a darker environment — like they will run in the shadow of Faith’s dreams.

To me, this image says that there are no limits that you should put upon yourself. Everyone should dare to dream, and you are never alone to achieve those dreams."