OUT TO WIN
For Nikki Hiltz, the first openly non-binary USA Track & Field champion, being their authentic self has catapulted their running to a new level. The sport is still catching up
FEBRUARY 2023. Albuquerque, New Mexico, US. Nikki Hiltz is standing on the starting line of the women’s 1500m at the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships, and struggling to concentrate.
Hiltz is under a lot of pressure, most of it self-inflicted. They’d shown up to the meet toggling between two states of mind: really wanting to win and – somewhat less helpful – wondering why they were even there.
Still frustrated after a seventh-place finish over the same distance at the prestigious Millrose Games in New York City the week before, despite running a solid race – 4:24.68 – Hiltz is trying to forget all about last week and get their head in the game. Don’t focus on what the number on the clock will read when you cross the finish line – just race.
The group goes out slowly, meaning that the last couple of laps will be quick, which suits Hiltz. A fast finisher, Hiltz runs the final 400m in 58.86.
Approaching the last lap, Hiltz moves up on to the high side of the bank to close the gap to Sage Hurta-Klecker, who leads by several strides. The two runners enter the final stretch stride for stride until the very last moment, when Hiltz hurtles forwards – a signature finishing kick.
With a time of 4:17.10, Hiltz wins the women’s 1500m and becomes the first openly non-binary athlete to earn a USA Track & Field national title. They break the tape with a giant, cheesy smile. ‘I’m the first, I hope, of many in the generations to come,’ Hiltz later tells me.
Star qualities
‘DID YOU SEE THE MOON last night?’ Hiltz asks me. It’s the morning after the full moon in Gemini during Sagittarius season, and Hiltz left a glass of water outside to charge under the moon (a common astrological practice to harness the connection between the moon and the tides). Hiltz’s moon and rising signs are Gemini, known for duality and quick thinking.
I’m meeting Hiltz at a coffee shop in Flagstaff, Arizona, in December. Hiltz wears khaki-coloured tracksuit bottoms, a lavender T-shirt and a bumbag slung across their body, messenger-bag style. Their short, sandy hair, which is cut a little like an early-2000s boy-band heart-throb, is covered with a grey beanie. Freckles dust the bridge of their nose.
It’s cold outside and a thin layer of snow covers the ground in town. White-capped mountains surround the city of approximately 76,000 people [Flagstaff sits at an elevation of about 2,100m above sea level]. Hiltz is quiet but not soft-spoken, outgoing and extroverted but conflict-averse. They hate mak
