About a year removed from the 2024 Olympics, elite running will return to Paris on June 26 in the form of “Breaking 4,” Kenyan runner Faith Kipyegon’s attempt to set the world’s first women’s sub-4-minute mile.
The attempt doesn’t come from nowhere. A February 2025 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology predicted a women’s sub-4 mile within the next decade. Still, to shave nearly 8 seconds off Kipyegon’s current world record of 4:07.64, that’s not evolution — that’s a leap.
In short: Kipyegon is inarguably the best middle-distance runner of her generation. To take nearly 8 seconds off that in a single race is to flirt with the impossible. But Nike, with a record of pushing those limits (see: Eluid Kipchoge’s Breaking2 attempt), isn’t showing up with stock equipment. The brand has built an entire ecosystem around Kipyegon — pacing lights, pacer formation, bespoke apparel, and a pair of spikes that could change the game.
Kipyegon Sub-4-Minute Mile Gear: Nike Victory 2 Track Spikes
Breaking4 is a chance for Nike to claim its post as the fastest brand in running. It pioneered the super shoe era with “Breaking2” and Eliud Kipchoge’s audacious sub-2-hour marathon attempt — a marketing masterclass as much as a biomechanical breakthrough. Today, the Alphafly, on which Kipchoge pioneered, is road racing’s gold standard.
On the track, Kipyegon’s tool of choice is more tailored. Rather than a standard Nike Victory 2, her special weapon for the record attempt will be a signature spike called the Nike Victory Elite FK (as in “Faith Kipyegon” or “Fastest Known”), dubbed “Dev 611” by World Athletics and approved in its database list of shoes for ratified competition (see details and a photo of the prototype on World Athletic Cert Check).
Underfoot, Nike’s signature Zoom Air delivers the propulsive snap that’s become standard at the elite level, but this version goes a step further. Drawing from its deep-middle-distance R&D bank, Nike built a taller Zoom Air unit to extend efficiency deeper into the race when margins matter.
The geometry shifts, too: a touch more offset than the stock Victory 2, tailored to Kipyegon’s stride and the demands of holding a roughly 15-mile-per-hour (!) running pace.
“Faith’s spike features completely new components designed to increase her energy return and improve her running efficiency,” Carrie Dimoff, footwear product director at Nike Innovation, told GearJunkie. “The spike is also significantly lighter than anything she’s worn before.”
Nike Victory Elite FK Spike Complete Specs
- Carbon fiber outsole: Low profile, high performance at a fraction of the weight
- Air Zoom Unit: Increased height and customized shape to increase energy return and improve running efficiency
- Bespoke Flyknit Upper: Featherweight yarns in an open, net-like structure
- Flyplate: Full-length, unidirectional carbon fiber for propulsion
- ZoomX Foam Midsole: Stable, responsive cushioning for a smooth and powerful stride
- 6x Embedded Titanium Pins: Optimized, lightweight traction from foot-strike through toe-off
Nike Fly Suit and Nike FlyWeb Bra
Nike’s product brief for the Faith Kipyegon Fly Suit was succinct: Create the most aerodynamic speed suit in running history.
It’s common in professional cycling to subject wind-tunnel testing to everything from wheels to socks to jerseys to helmets. Kipyegon’s Nike “Fly Suit” for running has undergone similar scrutiny.
Nike says that this bespoke one-piece suit is its most aerodynamic apparel solution ever — engineered using both computer simulations and physical wind-tunnel testing.
The Fly Suit is built with a complementary headband and arm and leg sleeves and with a new Nike invention called “Aeronodes” — spherical half-circles — strategically placed to split the air in front of Kipyegon and create smaller eddies behind her to reduce drag.
These nodes vary in size and placement to optimize airflow around the body. The goal is to create micro-turbulence that slices drag behind the runner, rather than letting it build like an anchor.
Kipyegon will also wear a new, one-of-one bra made of Nike FlyWeb, a 3D-printed TPU material optimized for moisture management, better than any typical textile. The bra’s racerback style provides more range of motion, and the computationally designed form features a dynamic, precision-tuned surface that’s denser in some places for higher support.
According to Nike, a typical sports bra has its drawbacks in that it can hold more moisture to the body compared to other pieces of clothing. The “thermal burden” associated with a normal sports bra can be severe, even for an event as short as a mile.
So Nike rethought it completely. FlyWeb offers support with far less material. Its racerback construction allows for full arm swing. The structure varies by zone — denser where support is critical, lighter where cooling matters most.
“Sports bras have never looked or felt like this before,” Nike Apparel Innovation Vice President Janett Nichol said. “The material is soft, light and incredibly supportive — yet it also feels like you’re not wearing anything at all.”
Will It Work?
The sub-4 mile for women is “inevitable,” according to exercise science, but still very much in doubt by pro running insiders. If Kipyegon pulls it off, she’ll reshape the ceiling of women’s distance running. If she doesn’t, the gear still matters because these innovations don’t stay elite for long.
These fast-tracked technology innovations will eventually make it to the shoes and apparel for the rest of us. This isn’t just Nike flexing its innovation muscle — it’s a glimpse at the next era of running. If Kipyegon breaks the barrier, the story will be about history. If she doesn’t, the story might still be about what comes next.
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