Nike Announces 4-Minute Mile Moonshot with Faith Kipyegon and the Breaking4 Project

The Pursuit of the Four-Minute Mile

Eight seconds to break an unbroken barrier in women’s sports.

That’s what Faith Kipyegon will attempt to shave off her current world record as she looks to become the first woman ever to break the four-minute mark in the distance as part of Nike’s just-announced Breaking4 project. 

It’s a moonshot if there ever was one, and even more ambitious than Nike’s Breaking2 project with Eliud Kipchoge, in which he became the first human to ever unofficially break the two-hour mark in the marathon. In that attempt, he needed to shave off nearly 1.4 percent of his world record time. For Kipyegon, the gap between her current record and the four-minute mark is just over 3 percent.

If anyone can shave off two seconds per lap in the mile, it’s Kipyegon. And she will make one attempt at the milestone 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?” says Kipyegon, a Kenya native and mother to a young daughter. “And I told myself, ‘If you believe in yourself, and your team believes in you, you can do it.’”

She has had the full support of Nike, her partner of 16 years, in going after the record. The conditions will be optimized on race day, and in true Nike fashion, they will be obsessing over every detail, from footwear to apparel to sport science, including in-depth analysis of aerodynamics, physiology, and psychology. No stone will go unturned in embracing a full holistic approach towards Kipyegon’s training and performance on race day.

The four-minute mile was forever a hallowed mark in running before Roger Bannister broke it over 70 years ago, paving the way for hundreds of runners to follow. If Kipyegon breaks the mark, it would quite possibly be the most monumental achievement in all of women’s sports, certainly in women’s running.

Nike is quick to point out that the emphasis of the project is not necessarily to break the mark – after all, it is a moonshot – but to challenge barriers, inspire current and future generations and redefine what’s possible for women in sport. Ultimately, the goal of Breaking4 is to pave the way of possibility for women everywhere.

As such, there’s no official word on whether it will be a ratified record attempt, but Nike has noted that the goal is to stay within as many traditional guidelines as possible. Considerations are still being made in regards to footwear and the final team and pacer strategy, all which are critical components as to whether or not this attempt will be ratified. Nike has not yet announced whether the event will be open to the public, but we’ll find out more about these in the next two months leading up to the attempt.

If Kipyegon breaks it, or even comes close, she’ll follow in the footsteps of Nike women athletes in benchmarking historic moments in the sport, including Joan Benoit Samuelson’s performance at the 1984 Olympics where she became the first woman ever to win gold in the marathon distance. 

In showing support for women of all ages, Kipyegon will have her daughter on hand at the finish to serve both as an inspiration and as a symbol of passing the torch to future generations.

“I want this attempt to say to women, ‘You can dream and make your dreams valid,’” says Kipyegon. “This is the way to go as women, to push boundaries and dream big.”