Under a new initiative called Breaking4, Nike athlete Faith Kipyegon will attempt to become the first woman to run a mile in under four minutes.
The Kenyan middle-distance runner currently holds the women’s world record for the mile, with a time of 4:07.64, which she set in 2023. Now, she’s aiming to become the first woman to break the four-minute threshold, first surpassed by Roger Bannister in 1954. To do it, she’ll need to shave almost two seconds off of each of her four laps — and she’s got two months for final preparation ahead of the official timed run, which is set to take place on June 26 at the Stade Charléty in Paris.
“I’m a three-time Olympic champion. I’ve achieved World Championship titles. I thought, What else? Why not dream outside the box?” said Kipyegon. “And I told myself, ‘If you believe in yourself, and your team believes in you, you can do it.’”
“I want this attempt to say to women, ‘You can dream and make your dreams valid,’” she added. “This is the way to go as women, to push boundaries and dream big.”
Nike is working closely with Kipyegon to ensure that her footwear, apparel, aerodynamics, physiology, and mental health are in tip-top shape for the official run. “Faith is a once-in-a-generation talent, and her audacious goal is exactly what Nike stands for,” said Elliott Hill, president and CEO of NIKE. “Breaking4 is the kind of bold dream we will do everything in our power to make real — helping both elite and everyday athletes to believe anything is possible.”
“This courageous attempt at breaking a monumental boundary embodies the alchemy of art, science and athlete, resetting ambitions and amplifying impact,” added John Hoke, chief innovation officer at Nike. “Together with athletes, we approach problems systemically, creatively and parametrically — no problem too large, no detail too small. As always, we stand in awe of helping athletes achieve greatness.”
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