How did Nike lose its edge in a running shoe market it once ruled?

On the first Sunday in November, Nike Chief Executive Elliott Hill was at the finish line of the New York City Marathon in Central Park, greeting the sport's elite athletes.

- BY KIM BHASIN

But runners in Nike sneakers weren't at the top of the podium. Benson Kipruto won the men's race in a pair of Adidas; Hellen Obiri, wearing Ons, took the women's race.

Nike Inc. has a problem on roads, tracks and treadmills where its sneakers used to dominate. Hill knows that the world's largest sportswear company has fallen behind, and he has made reviving the running division an urgent priority since rejoining Nike last year.

"We expect more of our running team," he says during a recent visit to Nike's sport research lab at headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., where testing facilities include an indoor track and sprint lane. "It is critical to the success of our company."

Nike has lost market share in the $7.4-billion U.S. running shoe market, which represents about 8% of the footwear market, according to research firm Circana. Previous management focused on selling lifestyle sneakers such as Air Force 1s and Dunks and moved away from offering its products through third-party stores.

Now Nike is trying to course-correct. The company is designing new shoes geared toward performance, reaching out to run clubs to rebuild the brand and getting its products back into the specialty running stores that dedicated runners frequent.

Kristyn Smith, a 43 year-old New Yorker who coaches other runners, was once a hardcore Nike devotee. In 2018 she began running in the brand's Zoom Vaporfly 4%, the $250 mass-market version of the super-shoes made for marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge, and she adored the new technology.

But over time, Smith began hoarding old versions of Nike shoes because she didn't like the changes to the brand's new releases each year. Rivals had developed their own super-shoes, giving her plenty of alternatives to choose from, and she'd test them out at running events.

These days Smith, who works in entertainment and runs about 4,000 miles per year, wears a rotation of brands including Adidas and Puma.