Keely Hodgkinson didn’t race in her usual uniform. The Olympic 800-meter champion put on a black suit that covered her entire body, and won in London in 1:56.40.
The design wasn’t arbitrary: Dan Farron, the brand’s head of innovation, bet on a counterintuitive idea: covering more skin to go faster, regulating temperature and reducing air resistance.
Hodgkinson tested it at 37°C in South Africa and didn’t feel any problem. That said, she ran with her hair loose, even though science told her that this slowed her down through the air.
She won anyway, in the first edition of Athlos outside the United States. And she left behind a phrase that sums it all up: “I feel like I’m wearing nothing”.