In June 2025, Faith Kipyegon attempted the impossible: breaking the 4-minute mile barrier.
Why would she dare to try? And why would Nike do everything in its power to make it happen?
Let’s run it back 70 years.
(My role: Narrative and Creative Direction for everything involved.)
This is Sir Roger Bannister. He was the first person to break the 4-minute mile barrier in 1954. Since then, thousands of men have run under 4 minutes. No woman has. Yet.
But Faith Kipyegon, the GOAT of women’s middle distance running, shaved 5 seconds off the women’s mile record in 2023. That was enough to give Nike some flashbacks.
Remember Breaking2? We decided it was time to shoot for the moon again, with an attempt even more difficult and audacious.
Of note, in a moment of brilliant inspiration, I named the event Breaking4: Faith Kipyegon vs. the 4-Minute Mile. Pretty great. Here’s how we announced it:
We couldn’t merely put on a live event for an attempt this powerful.
We partnered with Amazon Prime Video on a 3-part streaming docuseries, that you must click here to watch now.
If that’s too much for you (sad!), here’s the trailer:
The date was set for June 26th in Paris. Next, it was time for a little, casual, full-stadium event build out.
We wrote and produced an entire live sports broadcast that reached millions, as Faith stepped to the line for the most daring moment of her life:
After Faith crossed the line over a second faster than any woman ever has, we were prepared in classic Nike fashion with our point of view: It’s not a matter of if a woman can break the 4-minute mile, it’s when.
Finally, here’s our tribute to Faith, featuring the first use of “Just Do It” in Nike advertising in several years:
I have never been so inspired by an athlete, or a creative team. The team that brought this together numbered in the dozens, featuring countless internal and external partners. For simplicity, I’m crediting the team I was on.
The Team
Nike Brand Creative: Bryon Panaia, Luis Liwag, Renee Ramraj, Rachel Mason, Allison Kerst, Che Lin, Daniel Palau
