EUGENIO, Oregon. As Nikki Hiltz took a victory lap to celebrate her long-awaited trip to the Olympics, some fans reached out and handed bracelets to their favorite 1,500-meter runner — a runner who is doing it, in part, for them.
Nowadays, Hiltz, who is transgender and non-binary, is shining on two tracks – on the track as one of the best middle-distance runners in the world, with a trip to Paris imminent, and off the track as a role model for the queer community. Hiltz, who has always competed in the women’s category, uses the pronouns “they” and “them” and strongly suggests that people get used to it because it’s not going anywhere.
“I’m excited to keep showing up as myself and taking up space,” Hiltz, 29, said Sunday at the U.S. track and field trials after earning her first trip to the Olympics. “I use they/them pronouns and people get tripped up all the time. But it’s like, ‘You can’t ignore me anymore, because I’m a two-time champion in a row. I’m here, like ‘get it right’.
Hiltz’s race plan last Sunday went exactly as they outlined it. They started fast, stayed close to the front pack and took off towards the end. Hiltz posted a personal best and record time of 3 minutes, 55.33 seconds to hold off Emily Mackay and Elle St.
Flashback to the 2021 Olympic trials: it didn’t go as planned and they finished last in the final won by St. Louis.
“I’ve worked really hard since then,” Hiltz said. “So much mental work and obviously physical work as well. It’s just a journey.”
Three months before the ’21 trials, life began to change for Hiltz. In a social media post, they announced: “My name is Nikki and I am transgender.”
The American record holder in the women’s mile remembers March 31, 2021as a day where friends, family, fans and even track rivals could see Hiltz for who he really was.
As Hiltz prepares to race in Paris next month, they know they’re not just running for themselves. They are now equal parts athlete and LGBTQ+ advocate in a world where transgender participation in sports has become one of society’s most divisive lightning rods.
“I definitely dedicate a lot of myself and a lot of my time and energy to the queer community and being an advocate,” Hiltz said last summer in an interview before the world championships in Budapest, Hungary. “But I do it because I get a lot in return. I feel like every time I meet another non-binary person in the queer community, it gives me more representation. They always say I’m doing this for them, but I think representation is a two-way street and I definitely feel empowered.”
Hiltz competing in the women’s category does not raise the same issues faced by transgender women.
Two years ago, swimmer Lia Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship. This triggered new policies across all sports.
World Aquatics has effectively banned transgender women from competing in women’s events and World Athletics, athletics’ governing body, has been grappling with versions of this issue for some time.
Last year, it was implemented stricter rules for intersex athletes with differences in sexual development. Conjurer Semenyathe two-time Olympic champion in the 800 meters who has differences in sexual development, is now barred from competing. She said she will not undergo the medical or surgical procedures necessary to compete under the new rules, which ban her from all events unless she undergoes hormone suppression treatment for six months before competing.
“The general principle for me,” said world athletics president Sebastian Coe last year, “is that we will always do what we think is best for our sport.”
For Hiltz, the issue always comes down to this: inclusion.
“As someone who has competed in women’s sports my entire life, I think we need protection, but I don’t think it’s from trans women,” Hiltz said last summer. Or there are many other issues, such as equal representation and equal pay.
“Those are the issues I would love to address instead of trans women, because we’ve never had to protect ourselves from that.”
Each Hiltz year organize a 5K race for support LGBTQ+ organizations. The mantra is a “shared determination to show that we belong wherever we choose to be.”
“I want to keep working to make space for everyone,” Hiltz said.
On the track, Hiltz had a sizzling summer a year ago, running 4:16.35 to break the old American mile mark set by Mary Slaney in 1985.
This season, they have gotten faster and are moving on to a bigger stage: the Paris Olympics.
They earned their place on the track at the University of Oregon, where Hiltz’s collegiate career began (they later went to Arkansas ). Hiltz recalled a moment during his freshman year in Eugene where they snuck into Hayward Field with some friends and sat on the track to dream.
“I just remember thinking, ‘One day I’m going to have a moment here,’” recalled Hiltz, who moved to higher ground in Flagstaff, Arizona. “Something inside me was like, ‘I want to win a race here and I want it to be a great race.’”
They did exactly that too.
“I’m very privileged,” Hiltz said last Sunday. “I have an incredible support system. My family always accepted me, when I revealed my sexuality and later when I revealed my gender identity. I just know that a lot of queer people don’t have that love and support.”
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