Whether it’s setting up one of the best finishing kicks in her sport or boldly pushing the pace, Nikki Hiltz likes to run up front.
The first ever American nonbinary track and field champion has increased their profile and their trophy case in the last two years. Multiple national championships, an American record in the mile, and 2024’s Olympic debut stand out as the California native has gone from curiosity to contender in the women’s middle distance races (800 meters and 1500 meters), one of the most competitive fields in the entire sport.
In 2025, they are reaching for more. In addition to fighting for another national championship, and a goal of earning a medal at the World Athletics Championships in September, Hiltz is one of the main attractions in the inaugural year of athletic legend Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track Tour.
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They exploded onto the scene there, too. The 800 meters isn’t their best event, but they pulled off an upset win and ended up a second in the overall middle distance standing in the tour’s inaugural event.
The seeds of this bloom came from a revelation. Hiltz was always a go-getter as a state high school track and cross country champion and a six-time NCAA All-American. They were also looking inside, and seeing something different.
On Trans Day of Visibility 2021, Hiltz publicly came out as transgender and nonbinary while also chasing an Olympic dream.
“Posting this is both exciting and terrifying,” they said on Instagram. “But I am and always will be a firm believer that vulnerability and visibility are essential in creating social change and acceptance.”
In the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2021, an early race bump with another competitor cycled them back to the last place in the 1500 meters and scuttled hopes of representing Team USA at the COVID-postponed Tokyo Olympics.
Undeterred and buoyed by a new coach in then-Northern Arizona coach Mike Smith, and a sponsor in Lululemon seeing them as much for their advocacy as their athletic potential, Hiltz improved in 2022, and surged in 2023. They raced to a USA Track and Field Road 1-Mile title, and a win at 1500 meters at both the USATF Outdoor and Indoor Championships.
That same year also saw Hiltz living out what they called a “mantra”.
“If you win, you will be seen. The camera follows the athlete in the lead, the interview goes to the athlete who wins,” they said. “And if that athlete is me, I know there is power in my being seen. Because representation is so important.”
In that breakthrough season, their road 1-mile title was one through streets of downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Just weeks before, the state passed laws directly discriminating against trans youth. The site of a surging Hiltz to win was under a gauntlet of Pride flags and trans flags.
“Trans people live in Iowa and they deserve access to healthcare and access to sports,” Hiltz told Citius Mag after winning that race. “It meant more being in a state where there is so much hateful legislation.”
Hiltz has been consistent to take each opportunity to point out what other trans Americans were facing as hundreds of anti-trans bills descended on state houses nationwide, and also to show trans joy in action. They did so through their march to another national title, a berth in the Paris Olympics, and ended up in a flying 1500 meters Olympic finals showdown where they finished 7th, but got one the best post race celebrations of the Games courtesy of their partner and fellow athlete Emma Gee.
Being themselves while also being hotly competitive is what has drawn so many to an athlete with toothy, grin, a demeanor that connects with fans as fierce and fun, and a willingness to step in the arena off the track as well as on it and be counted and counted on.
“Today I can be visible because of the many Trans folks who have paved the way for me,” Hiltz stated when they came out.
Four years after saying those words, they are paving a new path while also running up front.
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