Nike unveiled a one-of-one speed suit for middle-distance runner Keely Hodgkinson on September 18, 2026, built for her signature 800-meter event, and the design’s core aerodynamic feature is 3D printed: color-shifting, delta-shaped vortex generators positioned across the suit to reduce drag where it matters most on her body. Nike describes them as the fastest vortex generators the company has built to date.
The suit, developed in close partnership with Hodgkinson herself, was handcrafted primarily within Nike’s LeBron James Innovation Center at the Philip H. Knight Campus, combining athlete insight, sport-science research, and advanced product creation into what Nike calls a fully integrated system of speed.
How the printed devices work
The vortex generators vary in size and orientation and are computationally tuned to each specific part of Hodgkinson’s body instead of being applied uniformly across the suit. Functionally, they work by generating small vortices, essentially mini tornadoes, that pull fast-moving air around the body into contact with the slower-moving air trapped against it. That mixing reduces the low-pressure wake that normally builds up behind a moving athlete, cutting the drag working against her and supporting higher sustained speed over the race.
Their placement and tuning reflect a level of individualized geometry that would be difficult to achieve with molded or stitched components, which is consistent with why Nike turned to 3D printing for this specific element of the suit. The rest of the suit relies on a strategic combination of fabrics, minimal seams, and no closures to further cut air resistance as Hodgkinson moves around the track, alongside features like an articulated back knee for smooth fabric behavior in peak flexion and a patented 4D mobility gusset for freedom of motion.
Part of a broader performance and identity-driven design
Nike frames the printed vortex generators as one piece of a broader system built specifically around Hodgkinson, an approach the company says reflects its belief that “every breakthrough starts with the athlete.” Dan Farron, Nike VP of Innovation Apparel Product Design, tied the technical work to Hodgkinson’s personal brand: “As much as we’re designing for peak performance, we’re also designing for pinnacle expression. Keely’s an athlete who’s unafraid to take risks; she’s bold and vivacious. This speed suit is a reflection of who she is.”
Hodgkinson, a Nike athlete since 2019, described the result in terms of feel, “In this speed kit, I feel fast, free-flowing, comfortable and empowered.”
Nike did not disclose the specific 3D printing process or material used to produce the vortex generators, nor whether the technology developed for this one-of-one suit is expected to appear in future commercial products.
3D Printing’s Long Push to Shave Milliseconds Off Athletic Drag
Nike’s printed vortex generators sit inside a strategy the sports industry has pursued for over a decade: using 3D printing to customize aerodynamic and fit-related gear to an individual athlete’s body. The gap this closes isn’t about materials, it’s about geometry that’s too personalized and too complex to mold or stitch economically, which is exactly why Nike reached for printing on this one component of Hodgkinson’s suit.
Other companies have chased the same drag-reduction goal in adjacent sports. Vorteq turned to 3D scanning technology from Artec 3D to build custom-fitted aerodynamic skinsuits worn by Olympic cyclists at the Tokyo Games, engineering suits designed to be lightweight, breathable, and to significantly cut drag through athlete-specific fit rather than a standard size run.
On the motorsport side, CRP Technology has applied the same vortex-generator principle Nike used here to a very different vehicle: the company 3D prints vortex generators for supercars using its heat-resistant Windform RS material, deploying the same turbulence-inducing geometry to manage airflow and reduce drag on high-speed road cars.
That same approach has recently moved beyond apparel into full-body performance modeling. Just this year, NASCAR produced life-size 3D printed athlete and sled models for USA Luge, applying motorsport aerodynamics techniques to refine sled shape and athlete positioning ahead of the Winter Olympics.
Nike’s speed suit extends that same logic one step further: rather than modeling drag externally or shaping a whole garment around an athlete’s measurements, the vortex generators are computationally tuned and printed directly onto specific points of Hodgkinson’s body, turning drag reduction into a made-to-measure feature rather than a general design principle.
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Featured image shows Keely Hodgkinson debuted her custom Nike speed suit at Athlos London, winning the 800m in 1:56.80. Photo via Nike.
