Nike In Paris

The Swoosh launched a new shoe and the Team USA uniforms in Paris—and the reaction was mixed.

In between DC and Boston, I flew over to Paris for a big Nike blowout celebrating its proprietary Air technology. Nike On Air was held at the Palais Brongniart, the former home of the Paris stock exchange, and included an immersive experience highlighting the past, present, and future of Air. 

The headlining event featured 40 elite Nike athletes—including Eliud Kipchoge, Faith Kipyegon, Sha’carrie Richardson, and Serena Williams—who unveiled Olympic team kits and something called A.I.R. — Athlete-Imagined Revolution, essentially a collection of “mind-bending” collaborative prototypes. 

I was there specifically to cover the reveal of the brand-new Pegasus Premium and the Olympic uniforms for the Team USA track and field athletes (and to interview a number of athletes, including Eliud Kipchoge, one of the greatest marathoners of all time—more to come on that front, but I had to share a pic). Here’s what I learned:

Pegasus Premium + Pegasus 41 Launch

The biggest innovation on display was the Pegasus Premium, a supercharged version of the brand’s 42-year old daily trainer. It uses ZoomX and ReactX foams as well as a brand-new, full-length Nike Air “plate” to create a smoother, faster everyday ride.

You’re probably used to seeing Nike Air, the brand’s cushioning system, in shoes like the Alphafly, where “airbags” sit under the forefoot to provide a springy pop off the ground. Other designs have inflatable bladders or pods in different areas, depending on the purpose of the shoe. But with the Pegasus Premium, the brand has figured out how to use tools like computational design, AI engines, and rapid prototyping to shape that Air technology in a way that almost acts like a carbon plate, but is more forgiving on the body. 

On the Pegasus Premium, you can see the Air Zoom unit layered between two slabs of foam, but unlike a carbon plate, which usually has a noticeable curve or bend to it, the Air Zoom unit here is flatter and more flexible. That allows it to provide a more natural forward push instead of that spring-like effect. 

With the two separate super foams, Nike is doubling down on energy return while keeping it light—a men’s size 10 is 330 grams and a women’s size 8 is 278 grams, both with a 10-millimeter drop and a stack height of 45 millimeters. I didn’t get a chance to run in it, but I did cram my foot into the sample size and was pleasantly surprised by the squish underfoot; I don’t often run in the Pegasus because it’s too firm for me, but underfoot experience of the Peg Premium felt totally different to me in a good way.

Unfortunately, the Pegasus Premium (above, left) won’t officially launch until 2025. But on June 5, runners will be able to get their hands on the Pegasus 41 (above, right), which now uses ReactX foam to provide 13 precent more energy return than Nike React foam, and has a teensy bit more stack height and a lighter, more breathable upper.) 

Overall, though, the reveal felt a little underwhelming. I love that Nike is investing in a super trainer for the everyday runner—but so is every other brand. “‘[Nike] management has acknowledged a need for big changes,’” a Bloomsberg article reported, quoting an analyst at BofA Securities. But if innovation has indeed “lagged in recent years and launches are key to the return to growth,” I’m not sure if this is the shoe that will get Nike the kind of headlines (and sales) it needs. There’s no shortage of super trainers on the market, and I’m not if the Pegasus Premium is sexy enough in terms of innovation and performance benefits to keep runners on the hook for a year.

Team USA Uniform Reveal 

Nike had two women’s Team USA uniform options on display at the Nike on Air exhibit: four pieces out of a collection of nearly 50 silhouettes, which include compression shorts, a crop top or tank and a bodysuit with shorts rather than bikini bottoms. When Citius Mag posted an Instagram photo of one of them next to one of the men’s options, the internet lost its mind. Sure, that one cut is a little risque. But beyond the design, I have two main concerns with how this reveal went down. 

First: As the New York Times pointed out, “What Nike missed…in choosing these two looks as the primary preview for Team U.S.A., rather than, say, the matching shorts and tanks that will be also available, it shored up a longstanding inequity in sports — one that puts the body of a female athlete on display in a way it does not for the male athlete.” Given the long-standing inequalities between men’s and women’s athletics, highlighting a more sexualized uniform (even if the sexualization happens in the interpretation rather than the design) is not a great move. 

Nike also missed the boat on providing context (and other imagery) around the collection before the embargo lifted on April 11. I wrote a story for Outside Run about the reveal, but didn’t get official photos (and so was unable to publish) until 30-plus hours afterwards. Without context, the internet was able to run rampant with speculation, disbelief, opinions, and derision—even from Team USA athletes. 

This collection was designed with athletes, and by women. And the athletes who have tried the pieces don’t seem to have any issues with them. At the Nike on Air show in Paris on April 11, athletes modeled several silhouettes: Sha’carrie Richardson wore a half-zip, backless spandex romper; and Athiing Mu rocked a high-cut one-piece with cutouts; Anna Cockrell showed off a sports bra and bikini brief set. They all looked absolutely incredible, and you could easily see how confident they all felt in their chosen kit (I only had my iPhone, so forgive the photo quality above). 

Des Linden commented on the backlash on an Instagram post from Lauren Fleshman, saying, “it sorta feels like prematurely shaming.” On X, pole vaulter Katie Moon shared pictures of herself in a version of the kit to “help put women’s minds at ease,” and also shared a lengthy Instgram caption rebutting some of the negative feedback: 

“We have at least 20 different combinations of a uniform to compete in with all the tops and bottoms available to us. We DO have the men’s option available to us if we want it. When you attack the buns and crop top saying something along the lines of it’s “sexist” (which if that was our only choice, it would be), even if it’s with the best of intentions, you’re ultimately attacking our decision as women to wear it. And if you honestly think that on the most important days of our careers we’re choosing what we wear to appease the men watching over what we’re most comfortable and confident in, to execute to the best of our abilities, that’s pretty offensive.”

Bottom line: The issue is less about this particular uniform and more about a) Nike’s choice to use this particular option as the prime preview piece without providing enough context at the outset, and b) the tendency people have to react first and spread vitriol online without having enough context to make a fair assessment. I’m sure any athlete who wears this uniform—or whatever other option they choose from the collection—in the Olympics will do so because it makes them feel capable of performing at their best.

the rundown

HOKA Skyward X
Hoka’s new super trainer, the Skyward X, might be my favorite shoe from the brand yet. It looks a little insane–it’s a Bondi on steroids, with 48 millimeters of two foams, PEBA and supercritical EVA, underfoot. That combo creates a lightweight and responsive sandwich around a carbon plate that helps stabilize all that foam, and the shoe is surprisingly stable thanks to Hoka’s Active Foot Frame, which cradles the foot with higher midsole walls that act like a bucket seat. I wore this for an unplanned three-hour long run, and my feet felt great; some might say it’s heavy at 10 ounces, but for so much shoe, I was actually surprised that I didn’t feel that heft. It’s probably not a super trainer I would race in, but it’s one I’m going to have a lot of fun training in.

How Female Tennis Players and Coaches Figure Out Their Sport and Each Other
I’m not a tennis player or even a casual fan, but I had to click on this story from The Athletic about whether having a female coach brings any specific advantages for female athletes. As the intro says, “duh.” There’s been a number of winning female coaches in the news lately, including Dawn Staley, head coach for the reigning champion South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team, and Emma Hayes, the long-time head coach for Chelsea FC (one of the most successful women’s teams in Europe) is now leading the USWNT. But there still aren’t many female coaches in running—Emilia Benton covered the issue for Tracksmith. The story highlights some of the benefits female athletes report when working with female coaches, and I wonder how those would translate into professional running. 

Menstrual Cycle Phase Has No Effect on Performance
There’s been a lot of talk over the last few years about cycle syncing (Christine Yu has covered this topic extensively), but a new study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise says that the menstrual cycle phase has no influence on performance. It’s a small study, which means the results may not translate to a larger population, but when testing performance variables including peak oxygen uptake, time-to-exhaustion, running economy, and power output, in highly trained female endurance athletes during their early follicular, ovulatory, and mid-luteal phases, “mone of the measured performance-determining variables were influenced by [menstrual cycle] phase or serum estrogen or progesterone concentrations.” Obviously, every woman feels different during different phases of the menstrual cycle, so you may still want to adjust training accordingly, but you’re not actually worse at running at any particular time of the month (it just might feel that way).