Nikki Hiltz On Their Career-Defining Season To Repeat As National Champion, Winning A Diamond League, And Heading To The World Championships As A Medal Threat
The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show
CITIUS MAG
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 27 August 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“It’s holding onto the fact that truly anything can happen. That's why I'm a fan of the sport. I love watching upsets happen. I love watching dragons get slayed and things like that. It's exciting! I think no matter what, I'm just going in to try to run a 1500 that I'm proud of and let the outcome be the outcome. That's not the focus; the focus is just doing the thing I love.”
Three straight U.S. outdoor titles, a Diamond League victory, and a season that has firmly established Nikki Hiltz as America’s standard-bearer in the 1500m.
Earlier this month at Hayward Field, they did exactly what we’ve come to expect: poised in the pack, patient when the laps slowed, and then — with 100 meters to go — devastating to the competition. A 58-second last lap sealed a third consecutive national title and another ticket to the global stage.
If we go beyond the results on the track, this year brought about quite a bit of change. Nikki underwent contract talks to start the year and stuck with Lululemon. They switched up their coaching setup and started working with Juli Benson. All of this while privately recovering from top surgery, which they revealed just recently. Many of these things would seed doubt in an athlete, but Nikki has not skipped a beat.
Most recently, the Brussels Diamond League proved that — another perfectly timed kick down the final straight to reel in Australia’s Linden Hall and score their first-ever Diamond League win in 3:55.94, making history as the first American in seven years to win a 1500m on that stage.
Now, Hiltz heads to Tokyo as more than a national champion. I firmly believe they’re a medal contender. Consistent, battle-tested, and dangerous when the race is decided late.
We talk about the evolution behind this season, the mental battles of change and competition, and how Hiltz has grown into thinking about themselves as not just one of America’s best, but one of the world’s.
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Host: Chris Chavez | @chris_j_chavez on Instagram
Guest: Nikki Hiltz | @nikkihiltz on Instagram
Produced by: Jasmine Fehr | @jasminefehr on Instagram
Mentioned in this episode…
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What's up, everyone? You are listening to the Sidious Magp podcast. I'm your host, Chris Chavez, |
| 0:04.9 | and every week we go beyond the results to bring you conversations with the biggest names on the track, |
| 0:10.0 | the roads, and behind the scenes, from world-class athletes and coaches to innovators shaping the sport. |
| 0:15.6 | If it's happening on the track, we're covering it. With real insights that sharpened minds, |
| 0:20.2 | deep dives into the moments that define careers, and the kind of access to the pros you won't get anywhere else. |
| 0:26.3 | So let's get into it because we love track and field. |
| 0:31.4 | Before we get to today's episode, you know we love giving our listeners a shout out when they leave us a review on Apple podcasts this certainly helps the show's discoverability and we appreciate it this week's |
| 0:41.9 | review comes to us from Kelly Needham who writes in saying best running friends with so |
| 0:47.0 | many track meets behind a paywall these days this is the best way to stay in the loop this |
| 0:51.7 | crew has grown so much over the years and have really |
| 0:54.3 | built something awesome here. No one matches their knowledge on world rankings and Chris is a |
| 0:58.6 | fantastic interviewer. Love it. Thanks, Kelly. Our mission statement and at the core of everything |
| 1:03.8 | that we do is to make this sport easier and more fun to follow. We're glad that you've enjoyed |
| 1:08.5 | our content to make that happen. If you want your |
| 1:11.3 | review to be read, and if you want to support this show, leave us a five-star review on Apple |
| 1:15.5 | podcast today. Three straight U.S. outdoor titles, a Diamond League victory, and a season |
| 1:23.6 | that has firmly established Nikki Hiltz as America's standard bearer in the 1500 meters. |
| 1:28.6 | Earlier this month at Hayward Field, they did exactly what we've come to expect, |
| 1:33.5 | poised in the pack, patient when the laps slowed, and then, with 100 meters to go, devastating |
| 1:39.2 | to the competition. A 58 second last lap sealed, a third consecutive national title, and another ticket to the global championships. |
| 1:47.5 | If we go beyond the results on the track this year brought quite a bit of change. |
| 1:51.5 | Nikki underwent contract talks to start the year and stuck with Lulu Lemon. |
... |
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