Nike Pro Elite
2014–17

Four Seasons, One Direction

Between 2014 and 2017 Nike's athlete channel was quietly rebuilding itself. The business came first: in April 2014 USATF and Nike extended their partnership — running since 1991 — all the way to 2040, a deal ESPN valued at up to half a billion dollars. Six weeks later, at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on 30 May, Galen Rupp of the Oregon Project ran 26:44.36 for 10,000 m, an American record set at Nike's own meeting. And a Nike marathoner the sport would soon organise itself around won Rotterdam in April (2:05:00) and Chicago in October (2:04:11): Eliud Kipchoge, two years into the distance.

Berlin, Monza, New York

Kipchoge's ramp runs through the whole cycle. London 2015 in 2:04:42; then Berlin that September in 2:04:00 with the neon insoles of a Nike prototype flapping at his ankles from the 20-kilometre mark — sixty-three seconds off the world record, and an apology from the brand about a sockliner that had not worked. In 2016 the kit itself changed: on 17 March Nike unveiled Vapor with AeroSwift, ten per cent lighter, a quarter more breathable and half again as much stretch, cut from recycled polyester with taped AeroBlade details. Five weeks later Kipchoge ran 2:03:05 in London, and in September Kenenisa Bekele — a Nike athlete for more than twenty years — won Berlin in 2:03:03, six seconds outside the world record, with Wilson Kipsang ten seconds behind.

Then 2017. On 6 May, on the Monza motor circuit, Nike staged Breaking2: Kipchoge, Zersenay Tadese and Lelisa Desisa in a never-retailed shoe called the Vaporfly Elite, behind six rotating pacemakers and a car projecting a green laser line onto the tarmac. Kipchoge ran 2:00:25. It could not be a record and did not need to be one. The retail version, the Zoom Vaporfly 4%, went on sale on 20 July at $250; Kipchoge won Berlin in the rain that September in 2:03:32. That same year the brand's marathon programme found its team: the NN Running Team, founded in 2017 with Kipchoge at its centre and Nike as its kit.

The autumn belonged to Nike's Americans. Rupp won Chicago on 8 October in 2:09:20, the first American man to do it since Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. On 5 November in New York, Shalane Flanagan — Nike since 2004, of the Bowerman Track Club — won in 2:26:53, the first American woman to win the city's marathon since Miki Gorman in 1977; an hour earlier Geoffrey Kamworor of the NN Running Team had taken the men's race by three seconds from Kipsang. On the track, Faith Kipyegon closed the cycle as Diamond League 1500 m champion.

The championships of these years — Beijing 2015, Rio 2016 with its relay re-run, London 2017 — were raced in federation kit: Team USA in the Nike kit of USATF, Kenya in the Nike kit of Athletics Kenya. They live in our country pages, not here.

From these cycles · in the archiveNike Pro Elite 2014 Women Crop TopHoneycomb-print crop from the 2014 allocation — the old language, one launch before everything changed.100,00 €View piece →

The Kit of the Cycle

Four seasons of experiments, visible in the archive itself: honeycomb-print plum crops, textured red knits, laser-perforated black AeroSwift shorts with volt Swooshes, and the royal shorts and tie-dye crop of the Breaking2 season. The 2014–15 pieces are the last of the old language; everything from 2016 on carries the AeroSwift signature the super era was built on.

Construction follows the athlete-issue rules our authentication guide covers: competition-weight cloth, race cuts, no retail run. “Pro Elite” is the athlete-channel label collectors use — the programme Nike itself keeps off the shelves. Federation kit is a different contract: what USATF or Athletics Kenya wear at a Worlds lives in our country pages, not here.

From these cycles · in the archiveNike Pro Elite 2016 Running ShortsLaser-perforated AeroSwift running shorts from the launch generation of 2016 — the new cloth's first year.Sold out · check back soonView piece →

The Full Cycle in the Archive

Every piece we hold from the 2014–17 cycles, grouped by edition — in-stock first, sold pieces dimmed and documented, refreshed against live stock. The full brand story is in the Nike pillar.

Nike Pro Elite Team 2014 Women Half Zip Jersey90,00 €View Piece →Nike Pro Elite Team 2017 Women Running Shorts120,00 €View Piece →Nike Pro Elite Team 2017 Women Crop Top150,00 €View Piece →Nike Pro Elite 2015 Women Crop Top100,00 €View Piece →Nike Pro Elite 2014 Women Crop Top100,00 €View Piece →Nike Pro Elite 2016 Women Competition Briefs80,00 €View Piece →Nike Pro Elite 2016 Running ShortsSold out · check back soonView Piece →