NN Pro Elite
2020/21
4 team-issue pieces from the 2020/21 cycle live in our archive — the season this page reads, race by race, in the jersey it was run in.
NN Running Team 2020/21 kit is team issue from the 2020/21 season of the first professional running team — a line closed for good by the January 2026 rename to dsm-firmenich.
This page reads the season first: what the team actually did that year, verified result by result — then the kit it was done in, and every piece of it in our archive.
Part of our Brand Series — the full story is in The History of the NN Running Pro Elite Team. Jump to the full cycle collection or browse the category.
- What it is
- The double-year cycle — kit stamped 2020/2021 because the season moved
- The records
- 6 world records in 20 months — Cheptegei 3, Gidey 3
- Still standing
- Cheptegei's 12:35.36 and 26:11.00; Gidey's half 1:02:52
- The night
- Valencia, 7 Oct 2020 — two world records on one track in one evening
- Tokyo Marathon
- Legese defends, 2:04:15, 1 March 2020 — the elite-only edition
- The bruise
- London 2020: Kipchoge 8th — his first marathon defeat since 2013
- Enschede
- The team builds its own race: Kipchoge 2:04:30, 18 April 2021, fastest of the year
- In our archive
- 4 double-year pieces, incl. the first INEOS-marked issue
The Double-Year Cycle
When the calendar emptied in 2020, the team replaced races with clocks. Across twenty months its two track leaders broke six world records between them, most of them in near-empty stadiums — and kit from this cycle carries the double stamp 2020/2021 because the season it was built for moved a year.
The record lanes (table)
| Lane | When | Record | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men · Joshua Cheptegei | FEB 20 | 5 km road 12:51 | Since broken |
| Men · Joshua Cheptegei | AUG 20 | 5,000 m 12:35.36 | Still stands (Sep 2026) |
| Men · Joshua Cheptegei | OCT 20 | 10,000 m 26:11.00 | Still stands (Sep 2026) |
| Women · Letesenbet Gidey | OCT 20 | 5,000 m 14:06.62 | Since broken |
| Women · Letesenbet Gidey | JUN 21 | 10,000 m 29:01.03 | Since broken |
| Women · Letesenbet Gidey | OCT 21 | Half 1:02:52 | Still stands (Sep 2026) |
Valencia Nights, London and Enschede
The cycle's signature evening came on 7 October 2020 in Valencia: Cheptegei took the 10,000 m record (26:11.00) and Gidey the women's 5,000 m (14:06.62) on the same night, on the same track. Cheptegei's two track records still stand in September 2026; Gidey's half marathon mark from a year later — 1:02:52, again Valencia — is still the only sub-63 ever run by a woman. In June 2021 she had also taken the 10,000 m record in Hengelo, 29:01.03, two days after Sifan Hassan had set it on the same track.
The roads were thinner, and the team filled them itself. Birhanu Legese defended his Tokyo Marathon title on 1 March 2020 in 2:04:15, in an edition reduced to the elite field by the virus. Kipchoge's 8th place in the closed-loop London of 4 October 2020 — 2:06:49 — was his first marathon defeat since 2013; the response was very NN: the team built its own race on the airfield at Twente, the NN Mission Marathon in Enschede, and on 18 April 2021 he won it in 2:04:30, the fastest time of the year. The cycle's bruise was Kamworor's: hit by a motorbike while training in June 2020, he broke a leg and spent the double year rebuilding.
The postponed Games of August 2021 were raced in federation kit — Kipchoge in Kenya's, Cheptegei in Uganda's, Nageeye in the Netherlands', Gidey in Ethiopia's — and they live in our Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia histories and in Netherlands 2020, not on this page.
From this cycle · in the archiveINEOS X Nike NN Pro Elite 2020/2021 Racing ShortsThe first INEOS-marked racing issue — the partnership born in Vienna arrives on the kit.120,00 €View piece →The Kit of the Cycle
The Tokyo-era kit keeps the white base but prints giant ghosted tonal graphics across the body, and the first INEOS orange shorts arrive after Vienna. Pieces stamped 2020/2021 carry the double year for the same reason the cycle lasted two seasons: the calendar moved.
Construction is team issue through and through — our authentication guide covers the tells. Since the January 2026 rename, nothing NN-branded is produced at all.
From this cycle · in the archiveNike NN Running Team Pro Elite 2020/2021 Women Distance SingletThe double-stamped racing white of the double-year cycle — ghost-print generation, worn across two seasons.100,00 €View piece →The Full 2020/21 Cycle in the Archive
Every double-year piece we hold, grouped by edition — in-stock first, sold pieces dimmed and documented, refreshed against live stock. For the other NN years, the team pillar carries every cycle, and the 2023 deep-dive covers the rust year.
Nike NN Running Team Pro Elite 2020/2021 Women Distance Singlet100,00 €View Piece →
Nike NN Running Team Pro Elite 2021 Women Crop Top80,00 €View Piece →
INEOS X Nike NN Running Team Pro Elite 2020/2021 Women T-Shirt150,00 €View Piece →INEOS XINEOS X Nike NN Pro Elite 2020/2021 Racing Shorts120,00 €View Piece →What is NN Running Team 2020/21 kit?
Team issue from the double-year cycle — stamped 2020/2021 because the postponed season stretched one kit generation across two years. It includes the first INEOS-marked pieces, issued after Vienna.
What records did the team set in 2020 and 2021?
Six world records: Cheptegei's 5 km road (12:51), 5,000 m (12:35.36) and 10,000 m (26:11.00); Gidey's 5,000 m (14:06.62), 10,000 m (29:01.03) and half marathon (1:02:52). Three of the six still stand in September 2026.
What did the team do on the roads in 2020 and 2021?
Legese defended the Tokyo Marathon in March 2020 in 2:04:15; Kipchoge lost in London in October 2020, his first marathon defeat since 2013, and won the NN Mission Marathon — a race the team built on an airfield in Enschede — in 2:04:30 in April 2021. Kamworor missed the whole cycle's big races after a motorbike accident in June 2020. What the same athletes did at the postponed Games was done in federation kit and is told in our country pages.
How do I recognise a 2020/21 NN piece?
White race kit with giant ghosted tonal prints, the first INEOS orange shorts, and the 2020/2021 double stamp. Team quantities, no retail run.
Sources and References
- NN Running Team — Wikipedia — Team history and roster
- Kamworor hat-trick, world half champs — World Athletics — Valencia 2018, 1:00:02
- Kipchoge wins London 2018 — LetsRun — 2:04:17
- Cheptegei smashes world 10km record — World Athletics — Valencia 2019, 26:38
- Cheptegei 5km world record Monaco — World Athletics — 12:51, Feb 2020
- Night of world records in Valencia — Gulf News / BBC — 26:11.00 and 14:06.62, same night, Oct 2020
- Kipchoge wins NN Mission Marathon — World Athletics — Enschede 2021, 2:04:30
- Barega upsets Cheptegei, Tokyo 10,000 — VOA — Tokyo silver 27:43.63
- Nageeye wins Rotterdam in 2:04:56 — European Athletics — Dutch record, first Dutch winner
- Cheptegei repeats as world 10,000m champion — LetsRun — Eugene 2022
- WCh Oregon22: women's 10,000m — World Athletics — Gidey world gold
- Cheptegei wins Olympic 10,000m gold in Paris — Al Jazeera — 26:43.14, Olympic record
- Paris 2024 men's marathon — Wikipedia — Kipchoge DNF, Nageeye DNF, Kiplangat 37th
- Nageeye wins 2024 NYC Marathon — LetsRun — 2:07:39
- Amsterdam Marathon 2024 — World Athletics — Yehualaw course record 2:16:52