“I’m a three-time Olympic champion. I’ve achieved World Championship titles. I thought, What else? Why not dream outside the box?” —Faith Kipyegon

Faith Kipyegon, the current female world-record-holder in the mile, is pursuing a previously unimaginable feat: running a sub-four-minute mile. Nike, Kipyegon’s longtime partner, is helping to make Faith’s bold dream a reality — much like its collaboration with Eliud Kipchoge to break the 2-hour marathon record. Faith is working to shave nearly 8 seconds off of her 2023 record through a combination of training, carefully calibrated pacer formation, and breakthrough apparel innovations. Nike came to Pentagram to develop a data-driven visual language and series of assets for their larger Breaking4 campaign, specifically to highlight the science behind this audacious moonshot and inspire future generations of female athletes.

Eddie Opara and Giorgia Lupi’s teams designed a distinct visual language and developed a series of animated assets that accompanied Nike’s storytelling during the lead-up to Faith’s June 2025 attempt, which took place in Paris. Pentagram’s task included helping audiences better visualize factors like speed, distance, effort, wind resistance, and the technical minutiae of Nike’s custom bra, speed suit, and track spikes. But beyond just technical illustrations, these assets create a poetic visual narrative to encompass not just Faith’s attempt, but the history of achievements in women’s running. 

At the nexus of Pentagram’s visual storytelling is a moving spiral, acting as a mnemonic for what a mile is. It may look simple — just four laps — but as we see the spiral grow around Faith and watch the distance, time, and speed tick up, we understand the magnitude of cutting 8 seconds from her current world-record-breaking run.  

In another video, historical time is also invoked, with the spiral visually linking Faith’s attempt to the mile as a universal athletic benchmark. Kipyegon is the only woman runner positioned to break the 4-minute barrier at this point, but she is not the first woman to redefine the limits of women’s athletic abilities. Underscoring the effort behind Faith and Nike’s partnership are other female runners throughout history who have challenged the impossible.

The spiral makes a final appearance as the track upon which Faith will make her attempt, surrounded by the pacers who will create a specific formation designed to optimize wind flow across the four laps. Nike’s team tested dozens of pacer formations to arrive at the final arrangement for the attempt, and the video highlights key moments and dynamics within the four laps, as well as the purpose of pacer placement and challenges the runners will face. 

Nike also worked closely with Faith to produce the most ideal conditions for her attempt, including, of course, her gear. Custom product innovations were obsessively designed, from her speedsuit, to the world’s first 3D-printed bra, down to the titanium spikes on her shoes. Each product has its own cutting-edge features. Strategically placed “aeronodes” on the speed suit optimize airflow, a dynamic captured by Pentagram through color and dynamic motion, visualizing air with and without the aeronodes. The 3D-printed bra dramatically reduces thermal burden, and the track spike animation shows us an exploded view, highlighting the many technical innovations contained within the shoe’s layers. Breaking4 is at once a celebration of Fatih Kipyegon’s once-in-a-generation athletic ability and Nike’s unyielding support in her pursuit of the sub-four-mile.

Faith’s attempt took place on June 26, 2025, at the Stade Charléty in Paris. While she didn’t make the sub-4 mile (yet!) she ran the fastest women’s mile ever: 4:06.42. On that day, she showed us it’s only a matter of time until a woman breaks 4.⁣⁣