The Fast Women interview is good with lots of details for running fans. The interesting bit that was clearer from the Ali podcast is she truly appreciates Hoka being running focused and smaller than Nike, where she can be valued more and not just "another" athlete.
"This seems like a no-brainer. There's this company that really values what we're doing, and they don't really want to change that. All they want to do is find a way to support us." Professional middle-distance runner Sinclaire Johnson returns to the Ali on the Run Show today — this time as a HOKA-sponsored athlete.
Sinclaire is the American record holder in the mile on the track and on the roads, both of which she set last year, in addition to making two 2025 world teams and running multiple personal bests. After spending her entire career thus far as a Nike athlete,
Sinclaire is excited about big changes ahead with HOKA. In this conversation, she talks about why she made the sponsor switch now, and what that means for her home base, her coaching (she's coached by fiancé Craig Nowak; listen to their Love on the Run episode here), and her next steps. Sinclaire will kick off her indoor season — in her new racing kit! — this weekend at New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Sound Running JDL Fastrack,
SPONSOR: Lagoon: Click here to take Lagoon's 2-minute sleep quiz to see which pillow is right for you, and use code ALI at checkout for 15% off your next Lagoon order. In this episode:
What's making Sinclaire happy today (2:20)
What Sinclaire's watching right now (6:00)
An update on wedding planning (7:35)
Why Sinclaire decided to sign with HOKA this year after a long career as a Nike-sponsored athlete (13:05)
Recapping Sinclaire's year of big changes and reflecting on her coaching change in 2025, from Union Athletics Club's Pete Julian to fiancé Craig Nowak (28:30)
Sinclaire's "big training risks" from 2025 (34:40) Sinclaire's "failures" from 2025 (35:50)
Sinclaire's biggest successes in 2025 (40:05)
How 2025 was a year of growth for Sinclaire (52:15)
How Sinclaire is feeling heading into her indoor season opener at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, where she'll be racing the mile (55:00)
Sinclaire's hopes, dreams, and plans for 2026 (59:00)
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Well known HOKA has a middle distance team launching in Portland. This makes complete sense. Should be announced soon with a prominent college coach heading it up.
Well known by who?? This is literally the first mention I've seen of this.
Haven't listened to the pod yet or had time to look at the transcript, but anywhere does she say her Nike contract ended, as in she was dropped or not renewed? Or do we think she shopped around and got more $ from Hoka as it appears they are interested in building a group (says all the speculation floating around).
She just set a few AR's and had a great year. I know in non-champs years and Olympic cycles contracts come and go but she doesn't seem like one to get dropped.
Nike contract period was ending, and Hoka offered her a ton of money that Nike didn't or couldn't match. Fast Women has a lengthy interview with the details.
It's also a little bit funny that she did pre-announcement interviews with Citius, Fast Women and Allie on the Run, all set to drop this morning and did not give any heads up or interview to LRC. I wonder why?
That's a head scratcher since athlete signings, especially women athletes, are always celebrated on the LRC World Famous Message Board with nothing but respect, well wishes, and kudos for the sponsor.
what's interesting is that she is coming off arguably the 2 best years of her career (higher place at worlds in 2022, but 2024 saw American mile record, PR's in the 1500m, world finals indoor and out, albeit not good showings in those finals). Not saying she would be Nike's TOP priority but surprised they would just let her go, and generally in these contracts they would have right of first refusal, meaning they would have an opportunity to match whatever other offers she received. I'm surprised Hoka made a big enough offer that they wouldn't cover, since they are a much smaller company
A few thoughts:
To be fair, she finished 6th in the World final under Julien and her PBs (1500, 3k and 800) are still from her UAC era.
I think she will ultimately surpass those place finishes and times, but to say her last seasons were the best in her career is factually incorrect.
I think Nike probably recognized these things and isn’t fully confident in her boyfriend taking the wheel.
To the point above, she seems to be entering the sweet spot of age for female mid distance runners, so she’ll likely be Americas best over the next few years. If there was a flag Nike should be planting, it should be American (USA) women in the 1500. Now they don’t have a single contender on the horizon. They should have paid her.
Although Nike dropped the ball on this, I'm happy for Sinclaire, and don't blame her a bit for going with the bigger paycheck. Careers are short. Good on her for making the most of it financially. She'll make a great representative for Hoka. Good, down to earth person who consistently gives forthright and interesting interviews. Very well liked by competitors and the running community at large. And with a little bit of injury-avoidance luck, should be a strong contender to make the 2028 team in L.A.
The Fast Women interview is good with lots of details for running fans. The interesting bit that was clearer from the Ali podcast is she truly appreciates Hoka being running focused and smaller than Nike, where she can be valued more and not just "another" athlete.
The thing with Hoka is who is their best / most well known runner or athlete? Habtom Samuel? Colin Sahlman? she could be their star.
Whereas Nike it's not even a question - LeBron, Alcaraz, Nadal, Wemby, Jakob, Kipchoge, etc. She is so far down the list for them.
I'm with you on that right up until the last 12 months. They have always been a decent choice for marathon/ultra/trail but not top tier. Even the carbon plated Bondi and Rocket were not fast.
However, the Cielo that came out about a year ago shows real promise. It's currently my go-to choice for marathons just ahead of Alphafly and Endorphin Elite.
Assuming they make similar advances in the track shoes she should do fine.
HOKA had a nice track spike, but it was deemed to be illegal and was grandfathered through the end of last season. Under Armour also had this advantage and now taken away. The new version of the HOKA spike is perhaps the worst spike of all the brands at the moment. Johnson will miss the Nike Zoom Victory.
Although Nike dropped the ball on this, I'm happy for Sinclaire, and don't blame her a bit for going with the bigger paycheck. Careers are short. Good on her for making the most of it financially. She'll make a great representative for Hoka. Good, down to earth person who consistently gives forthright and interesting interviews. Very well liked by competitors and the running community at large. And with a little bit of injury-avoidance luck, should be a strong contender to make the 2028 team in L.A.
Nike made the right call. Sinclaire is 27 and peaked in 2022 with a sixth-place finish in a World Championships final. She’s done well to maintain world-finalist-level fitness since then, but it’s increasingly clear she lacks the 3:50-level capability typically required to contend for a major global medal. It’s also understandable if Nike was unenthused by her decision to step away from their multi-million-dollar hub system in order to be coached by her husband, who has no experience competing at—or coaching—world-class level. She comes across as a genuinely nice person and is obviously an excellent athlete, but those are the facts. Credit to her for securing what is likely a $300k+ contract through the LA Olympic cycle. Credit to Hoka as well, who land an established world-class athlete and add credibility to a roster otherwise filled with athletes outside true medal contention. In the end, all parties come out ahead.
what's interesting is that she is coming off arguably the 2 best years of her career (higher place at worlds in 2022, but 2024 saw American mile record, PR's in the 1500m, world finals indoor and out, albeit not good showings in those finals). Not saying she would be Nike's TOP priority but surprised they would just let her go, and generally in these contracts they would have right of first refusal, meaning they would have an opportunity to match whatever other offers she received. I'm surprised Hoka made a big enough offer that they wouldn't cover, since they are a much smaller company
A few thoughts:
To be fair, she finished 6th in the World final under Julien and her PBs (1500, 3k and 800) are still from her UAC era.
I think she will ultimately surpass those place finishes and times, but to say her last seasons were the best in her career is factually incorrect.
I think Nike probably recognized these things and isn’t fully confident in her boyfriend taking the wheel.
To the point above, she seems to be entering the sweet spot of age for female mid distance runners, so she’ll likely be Americas best over the next few years. If there was a flag Nike should be planting, it should be American (USA) women in the 1500. Now they don’t have a single contender on the horizon. They should have paid her.
I agree with 6th in the world final being significant, but her PR's have not all come from the Julien era. Her 1500m PR is 3:56 from the olympic trials in 2024, well after she left. I believe she ran 3:56 again last year, slightly off her PR but still faster than she ever ran with Julien. I could be wrong but think she maybe never broke 3:58 with him. As for the 3k and 800m, her PR's may be from that era but she hasn't really raced those distances in a meaningul race since leaving as she's been dialed in on the 15/mile, and i would imagine when she ran those PR's they were at least partially to the end of ultimately raising her 1500m performance, which she only did once she left. Cut and dry, though, 6th in the world is by far her high water mark performance as of yet.
4:01.30 at NBIGP to move into #4 on the US indoor 1500 all time list. Almost ran down the World Silver Medalist in the final straight too. Seems her new Hoka spikes are working well so far.
Great race by her. Small hesitation covering the move which may have cost her, but great race and opener. Her fiancé has kept her injury free, I hope they can keep that going because she seems to be progressing well.