"Nike gave me options" - Parker Valby opens up about the customized Nike Vaporfly turned spikes she wore for her NCAA 10,000m finals

Parker Valby is making history in the NCAA and she's doing it in style. On Thursday, June 6, the 21-year-old clinched her fourth national title, while wearing customized Nike Vaporflys featuring spike plates on the bottom, a decision that led to drawing some criticism from fans.

For Valby, her 2023-2024 season with the Florida Gators has been a dream in every sense of the word. In November, she clinched her first national title while running in the cross country. She then claimed both the 3,000 and 5,000m indoor titles and came into the outdoor championships as a favorite for gold in the 5,000m and 10,000.

The youngster has already ticked the latter off her list, running 25 laps of the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregan, with ease. In her gold-medal winning effort, Parker Valby was aided by her customized Nike Vaporflys, a pair of shoes that featured spikes that are illegal under World Athletics rules but are allowed in the NCAA.

Speaking to Citius Magazine after the race, the Gator joked that she sewed in the spikes herself, before revealing Nike actually gave her options.

“I’m a handy woman, I sewed some spikes into them… Okay, Nike made them for me. Very lovely people. Nike gave me options,” Valby said.

Valby went on to add that she chose this particular pair of shoes to aid her recovery for the 5,000m finals that she will run on Saturday, June 8.

“I have the 5k on Saturday, and I'd like to have recovered legs. I did a workout in them on Monday or Tuesday. They're lovely shoes, recovery shoes, honestly my legs feel great,” she added.

Parker Valby on her Olympic aspirations

While Parker Valby might have broken plenty of records on running the 10,000m on Thursday, there is one thing she missed out on. The Florida Gators' winning time of 31:46.09 falls short of the 10k Olympic qualification time of 30:40.

When asked if she was aiming to breach that time during the finals, Valby vehemently denied it, saying:

“Absolutely not, I have a race on Saturday. I'm taking life day by day right now, and I'm focusing today on 25 laps, Saturday I'm going to focus on 12 and a half laps, and focus on each day after that.”

While Valby may not have the 10k Olympic standard yet, it doesn't seem to be too out of reach for her, given that her personal best in the event is 30:50.43, just 10 seconds off the mark.