On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister shattered a myth and history in equal measure—becoming the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. That legendary run at Oxford lit a path for generations of dreamers.

Tonight in Paris, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon takes her shot at immortality—aiming to become the first woman to break the fabled 4-minute mile.

With support from Nike and her management team, and in a race as meticulously planned as Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-two-hour marathon, Faith must shave 7.65 seconds off her own world record of 4:07.65. Four laps. Each under 60 seconds. One historic barrier.

The stage is set at Stade Charléty. At 8PM Paris time (9PM Kenyan time), the clock begins. Will she do the impossible—in under four minutes?

Kipyegon will be aiming to run the four laps in under 60 seconds each and Nike have left nothing to chance in her attempt, with the Parisian skies opening up early morning on race day as though to bless the initiative.

Tonight, Stade Charlety gates open at 5:30pm, local time (6:30pm Kenyan time), with accredited media requested to be seated by 7:15pm when the in-stadium programme begins. Faith’s attempt starts at 8pm (9pm Kenyan time) and will, hopefully, be over inside four minutes!

Fans have been registering online to gain free entry into the Charléty with supporters from around the world also set to watch Kipyegon’s moonshot by tuning in to a livestream broadcast available on Nike’s YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Douyin accounts, as well as Prime Video.

Kenyans will be rooting for Kipyegon under the Safaricom-powered #Kenya4Faith rallying call during the challenge that will certainly help unite the nation.

To make the experience affordable, Safaricom are offering a 4GB bundle at 4 shillings to keep Kenyans glued on the triple Olympic champion’s race against the clock, and to glory.

We look at some aspects critical to tonight’s race:

 

The Sebastian Charlety Stadium:

The Sebastian Charlety Stadium is a 20,000-seater facility located on Pierre de Courbetin Avenue and also houses offices of the Olympic Committee of France.

It was opened in 1938 and is a regular host of the Wanda Diamond League athletics competition.

Before settling for the Charlety, Nike looked at hundreds of stadiums and sampled material from 10 running tracks globally in order to also design the right footwear for Kipyegon.

“Our footwear solution for Faith was built on studying the interaction between Faith’s foot and the ground,” Carrie Dimoff, Senior Manager for Innovation Footwear at Nike, said.

“Our formula had to consider the track surface she’ll be running on, and the properties the surface does or doesn’t carry. While we were still landing on the location, we were able to test our spike prototypes on the exact track surface so we could evaluate energy return and traction effectiveness.”

Incidentally, it was at the Charlety that Kipyegon broke the 1,500m world record last year and also the 5,000m world record in 2023.

“I absolutely think there’s special energy at this track. I have beautiful memories in Paris, breaking the 5,000m world record, breaking the 1,500m world record there. And now we are going for this special one, and I think the track will bring good results,” Kipyegon said of the Stade Charléty.

The Pacemakers

A cocktail of male and female pacemakers will be deployed to push Kipyegon. They will run in a special formation to offer Kipyegon the best possibilities to dip under four minutes.

“Creating a low air pressure pocket for Faith requires total synchrony among all the pacers in the formation. Experimenting with different formations is a lot like rearranging the pieces on a chess board. The timing needs to be right, the group positioning needs to be right, and the relationship between any single pacer to Faith needs to be right,” Brett Kirby, Principal Researcher in the Nike Sport Research Lab, explains.

Though Nike have kept their pacers’ list top secret, some of the athletes who’ve been training with Kipyegon here in Paris include Kenya’s former Commonwealth 800m champion Wycliffe Kinyamal, Uganda’s former 800m world champion Halima Nakaayi, USA’s indoor 5,000m world record holder Grant Fisher, Great Britain’s Olympic 1,500m bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell.

Marathon G.O.A.T. Eliud Kipchoge is also on location in Paris to support his compatriot and Nike teammate Kipyegon.

Travel plans

Kipyegon’s travel to Paris was timed to perfection to avoid fatigue or jet lag. “Anyone who flies internationally can attest to the physical and mental toil from zooming through time zones, leaving you sluggish and fatigued,” Nike explains.

“Your body has a circadian rhythm, an internal clock, that prompts you to wake up and go to sleep. Somewhere in the middle of that time period is the bioenergetic sweet spot, when you feel most energized, or, in Kipyegon’s case, most physically capable. 

“That made finding the right area of the world for the attempt paramount for Breaking4. Minimizing a shift in time zones would help keep Kipyegon’s body clock from feeling out of whack.”

“We knew she couldn’t arrive feeling drained,” adds Amy Jones Vaterlaus, the Vice President, Women’s Research at the Nike Sport Research Lab and Breaking4 Innovation Lead.

“Paris having a time zone of one-hour difference from Kenya was a much easier decision than, say, somewhere in the United States, where Faith’s jet lag would be significant.”

 

Apparel, running shoes

Kipyegon will run in a prototype, 3D printed Nike Fly Suit and a revolutionary Nike FlyWeb sports bra, a special bra made of Nike FlyWeb, a 3D-printed material optimized for moisture management.

“The Innovation team gave Kipyegon the full gamut of Nike tools during her training leading up to the attempt,” Nike explains.

“Some are at the modern edge of athlete recovery methodology, such as Nike’s Hyperice boots, a heat and air-compression massage tool. Others, such as Nike’s new Vomero Premium shoe, were ideal for recovery runs or long mileage. Then there were the innovations that were expedited so Kipyegon could benefit from their advantages before and during the race. 

“Nike FlyWeb, a new 3D-printed material used for Kipyegon’s sports bra, was moved forward in its production cycle for Kipyegon to train in it.”

“This attempt is the first time Nike FlyWeb will be tested on the world stage, and in a one-of-one bra,” says Janett Nichol, VP of Apparel Innovation. 

“Faith gave us a rare opportunity: She would not only wear it, she’d help us evolve it.”

On her part, Kipyegon appreciates the designs: “It felt so good. The time I tried the bra and the suit was really beautiful, especially the look of it. The first time I touched it with my hands I was like ‘this is really beautiful’ and the time I put it on, it felt so great and so comfortable… it’s like you don’t have anything on your body… it’s like you have something but it’s very light… it feels so good.”

Carrie Dimford, Footwear Lead at Nike relishes the challenge: “If she crosses the line in under 4 minutes, it won’t just be a new world record. It’ll be a new understanding of what’s possible for women in sport.”

 

Choice of purple colour

Kipyegon’s favourite colour is purple.

“Color choice has the psychological power to motivate an athlete to reach her highest potential. Though the Nike Innovation team used little color in the Nike Fly Suit — one reason was that doing so would affect the aerodynamic properties of the material — the suit’s Nike Aeronodes are in a color-shifting purple, a nod to Kipyegon’s favorite color,” Nike explain.

Tonight, the stadium will also be themed purple. “At literally every turn, Kipyegon will see the color that motivates her. Beyond the day-of race environment, Kipyegon’s Nike Running collection is also rooted in purple. 

“The collection, which includes footwear and apparel, is paired with accents of red and green, representing her Kenyan heritage. And on Kipyegon’s Victory Elite FK spike, gold accents denote her gold medal victories.”

Timing and weather 

Nike further explain that Kipyegon’s professional schedule weighed heavily in choosing the month for the attempt. 

“If she’s to peak in mid-September during the World Championships in Tokyo, she has to give her body the ideal window of time for training periodization, or the scaling of her preparation to leave her feeling ready to go. The optimal timing: late June.”

Paris has been extremely hot with temperatures touching 36 on Wednesday. But overnight rains cooled temperatures down a little bit. 

“Weather conditions on race day can be the deal-breaker for achieving fast times. Heat, wind and rain can all put an additional load on an athlete. Too much heat is a thermal burden that leads to overexertion. Too much wind — and around a track, there will always be a headwind at a certain point — creates drag forces that slow runners down,” Nike add. 

“Weather doesn’t come on demand, of course, and the Nike team knew the ideal geographic location of the attempt would need to cross off as many criteria as possible: zero rain, less than 12 km/hr wind, moderate temperatures.”

“When Faith steps onto that track, I hope she feels it all — the pride, the love, the full force of a global community standing behind her. 

“And I know I’ll be somewhere nearby, probably crying, feeling honored just to have been a part of it,” Amy Jones Vaterlaus sums it up.

Simon Bairu is Kipyegon’s sports marketing partner and is convinced Faith will nail it.

“I’ve watched how hard she works, how much she sacrifices, how deeply she cares. It pushes me to be better too. My job is to meet her where she is and then help her get where she wants to go. That’s what this role is really about. Supporting her in the big moments, sure, but also in all the little ones that nobody sees,” Bairu explains.

“Faith is a fierce competitor, but she also has a sharp, witty side that not everybody gets to see. When she lets her guard down, there’s an ease and playfulness that comes through. I feel lucky to be one of the people she shares that with.

“In Paris, the gear will be perfect, the science will be in place — but I’ll just be thinking about how proud I am. I first saw her race in Rio when she won gold, and now she’s here, a champion, a mother, a leader and an ambassador who’s redefining what women are capable of. That moment will belong to her, no matter what the clock says.”

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