why NIKE uses sport science to make wearable tech for sprinting

NIKE uses sport science to produce wearable tech

NIKE uses sport science, body mapping, and 3D molds to produce apparel and wearable tech that are ideal for sprinting. The brand has a goal for this new series of production: NIKE is attempting to break a running record of a mile in just four minutes. The protagonist? Faith Kipyegon. The Kenyan native isn’t a stranger to the brand. They’ve been working together for 16 years.

Recently, NIKE has produced a 3D printed sneaker patterned to the athlete’s physiological and foot needs made using AI, math, and algorithms. It’s a way for the brand to refresh the way it makes its shoes. Much larger than that, it begins NIKE’s sport science flair to make a series of wearable tech for Faith Kipyegon so she can beat the sprinting record. Potentially, it’s also a time for the brand to produce a fresh set of high-tech collections for its fans.

all images courtesy of NIKE

body mapping and 3D mold to help faith Kipyegon break record

The NIKE sport-science team supporting Faith Kipyegon’s wearable tech and apparel is based in Beaverton, Oregon, the brand’s headquarters. Here, the engineers and designers are testing and designing footwear and apparel design for the athlete’s run. When the athlete visited the Nike Sport Research Lab in January 2025, the team scanned and monitored her body and feet. They’ve been using these scans for a 3D mold, which they use to design models of potential wearables. During the visit, NIKE also conducted body mapping, baseline testing, and VO2 max testing as part of its sport science technique to help create a series of apparel and wearable tech for the athlete’s run.

The brand is also in talks with Faith Kipyegon when it comes to the color palette and design direction of the fit. So far, there’s no news yet on the style and hues of the collection. Aside from the sport and engineering side of the research, NIKE also investigates the physiology and mind science that can help enhance Faith Kipyegon’s performance before and during the run in June 2025. It includes finding ways for the athlete to achieve running each of her four laps an average of nearly two seconds faster. NIKE says it’s already a significant accomplishment, considering it took 34 years to trim eight seconds off of Paula Ivan’s record in 1989, when women’s mile times were first tracked, to Faith Kipyegon’s current record.

NIKE uses sport science to produce apparel and wearable tech that are ideal for sprinting

The goal is to shred at least 7.65 seconds from old record

Faith Kipyegon is poised to be the first woman to ever run a mile in just, or under, four minutes. She set her fastest record time in 2023 at a Diamond League meeting in Monaco with 4:07.64. Since then, she has become the first woman to beat the feat that Roger Bannister first surpassed around 70 years ago. After that, she earned her third Olympic gold medal and set a new record in 2024 in the women’s 1,500 meters, with a time of 3:51.29. The mile has become a benchmark for athletic prowess among the athletes in the US. It is also a time-beating test that Faith Kipyegon eyes to beat. The plan is to shred at least 7.65 seconds from her record to set the new one.

The NIKE athlete is to make an attempt at the milestone on June 26th, 2025, at the Stade Charléty in Paris. It is the same track on which she set new world records in the 5,000-meter in 2023 and the 1,500-meter in 2024. She’s going back to Paris to take home another new record. Before that, she’s working with NIKE and its sport science wiz to produce wearable tech that meets her needs. The athlete is training at the Global Sports Communication Camp in western Kenya. On the other side of the world map, she’s backed by a team of engineers and designers, all of whom are preparing the high-tech pieces she can wear to help her break the running record.

the brand is attempting to break a running record of a mile in just four minutes with Faith Kipyegon