FEBRUARY 18, 2023. Albuquerque, New Mexico. Nikki Hiltz is on the starting line of the women's 1500m at the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships, 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 wondering why they were even there.
Still frustrated after a seventh-place finish at the Millrose Games the week before, despite a solid pace-4:24.68-Hiltz is trying to forget 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, which means that the last couple of laps will be fast. Hiltz closes the final 400m in 58.86.
Approaching the last lap, Hiltz moves up onto 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 forward-a signature Nikki Hiltz 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.
"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.
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