Nikki Hiltz’s journey on and off track has been the topic of conversation on many coffee tables. From iconic finishes to setting benchmarks like none other, Hiltz’s athletic career stands out on its merit! But this is not a story of just stacking medals, it is in fact an intimate journey of evolution that happened in plain sight.

Did you know Hiltz is a six-time NCAA Division I All-American and holds the American record in the mile? But it’s not just their speed that made the news, it’s their journey of self-discovery, that inspired many. It is a story of the digital age and an era that has also grown to become intolerant. So, what’s the full picture of Hiltz’s personal and professional journey?

Track and field star Nikki Hiltz’s coming out journey

Nikki Hiltz’s track trails are a mosaic of big wins both personally and professionally. But the road to these wins, was not easy, to say the least. Hiltz was assigned female at birth. But on International Transgender Day of Visibility of 2021, they did something that was going to rewrite history! On March 31, Hiltz came out transgender and even added that they prefer going by “non-binary.” “Sometimes I wake up feeling like a powerful queen and other days I wake up feeling as if I’m just a guy being a dude, and other times I identify outside of the gender binary entirely. It’s complicated and complex and something I’m still trying to navigate myself, but I’ve decided it’s time to share my gender fluidity with you all,” Hiltz wrote on Instagram.

This was a huge step in terms of acceptance in athletics. Battling the complexities of being a world-known athlete and simultaneously challenging stereotypical notions is no easy feat! Hiltz’s coming out sparked the much-needed conversation around the many ways, the sports community can be more inclusive. For Hiltz, sports have been the catalyst to self-discovery. As Hiltz, themselves put it, “It’s the first place where I ever felt like I can be myself. I think, along my journey, sports has been at the forefront of discovering myself.” They went on to give sports credit for giving them a way to know the stories of those who came before them.

Issues faced by the sprinter and their road to the Paris Olympics

Hiltz once said that anything that costs you your peace is too expensive. But for something like the Paris Olympics, peace seems like a small price to pay. As Hiltz stood at the starting line of the U.S. Olympic trials, in June of 2021, they wondered, “whether they belonged,” there. This uncertainty was worsened by the societal pressure to fit into heteronormativity.

Hiltz faced a lot of backlash on social media, one of them read, “a mediocre man stealing a woman’s place on the Olympic team.” “ Ted, how bout you go touch some grass and then type into Google ‘What does nonbinary mean?” responded Hiltz. The sad part is, that Hiltz came out at a time when there was a larger anti-trans sentiment at play. Additionally, legislatures were also considering numerous anti-trans bills. As their partner Emma Gee puts it, “Nikki’s coming out was in a pretty unsafe space. The validation they were looking for, they were met with a lot of confusion and not safe behavior.”

And how sad is it, that even the most coveted event in one of the most liberal cities is still transphobic? Hiltz took it to Instagram and wrote, “Transphobia is going crazy at these Olympics. Anti-trans rhetoric is anti-woman. These people aren’t ‘protecting women’s sport,’ they are enforcing rigid gender norms, and anyone who doesn’t fit into those norms is targeted and vilified.”

Hiltz is at the forefront of pushing World Athletics to change its policies. The current policies bar transgender women from competing in the women’s category and test hormone levels for certain events. There is, however, a counterargument presented by World Athletics’ President Sebastian Coe. He argues that strict rules are necessary to protect female athletes. As the battle for equity in sports continues, Hiltz has sprinted into the 1500m finals at Paris. Blocking out the noises, Nikki Hiltz is on a journey of their own.