Breaking Barriers? A Critical Comparative Discourse Analysis of Nike’s Breaking2 and Breaking4 Running Events

Abstract

In 2017, Nike sponsored “Breaking2”: an orchestrated race, centered around Eliud Kipchoge’s efforts to break the 2-hour barrier in the marathon. Eight years later, Nike produced “Breaking4,” wherein Faith Kipyegon attempted to become the first woman to break the four-minute mile barrier. While neither athlete was successful, both produced world fastest times (yet were outside of official record-eligible conditions) and received substantial media attention. However, to date, there lacks critical scholarship analyzing the events and comparing their coverages: a significant oversight given the structurally parallel curation of both events. To address this gap, we conduct a comparative qualitative critical discourse analysis (CDA) to analyze U.S. media coverage published before, during, and after both races. Our analysis identified three themes: (1) technological mediation of human performance, (2) questions of athletic legitimacy and institutional rule-making, and (3) Nike’s corporate role as both facilitator and protagonist. Our analysis also revealed softened skepticism and criticism of these events over time, with Breaking4 coverage normalizing the technologized environment and framing Kipyegon’s attempt through the language of inspiration. This ultimately reveals how media discourse defines what “counts” as a barrier, who is imagined to break it, and how corporate sport spectacle is made culturally meaningful.