PuraVida Sports

As record-breaking Faith Kipyegon was being celebrated for her latest world record run in the 1,500 metres at Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic, her management team – Netherlands-based Global Sports Communications (GSC) – was also being appreciated on the sidelines of the Wanda Diamond League meeting at Hayward field.

Kipyegon ran a blistering final 120 metres to clock a new world record three minutes, 48.68 seconds in the 1,500 metres, breaking her own world record for a third consecutive year.

She now has a total of five career world record runs in her 31-year-old legs, three in the metric mile, one in the mile and another in the 5,000m.

Kipyegon is part of the GSC stable whose marquee athletes include marathon G.O.A.T. Eliud Kipchoge and Uganda’s multiple World and Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei who boasts two Olympic gold medals and three World Championship titles.

Prototype Nike shoes

When dipping under two hours in the marathon at the famous 2019 ‘INEOS 1:59 Challenge’ at Vienna’s Prater Park, Kipchoge wore the first version Nike Air AlphaFly Next% prototype shoes.

And at the ‘Breaking4’ attempt by Kipyegon to beat the four-minute barrier in the mile at Stade Charlety in Paris, the Kenyan superstar donned bespoke, prototype Nike Victory 2 Elite FK spikes as the US sportswear giants aimed to enhance efficiency and performance.

Kipyegon also uses Nike’s new Vomero Premium shoes for her recovery and long runs.

GSC, founded by former Dutch distance running champion Jos Hermens over 40 years ago, was very much in the heart of Nike’s research and development for both the ‘INEOS 1:59 Challenge’ and ‘Breaking4’ as the Nijmegen-based team sewed together a closely-knit management team that also midwifed the birth of a professional running team, NN Running Team, in 2017.

Olympic women’s marathon champion, Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan, Kenya’s women’s steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech, two-time Rotterdam Marathon champion Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands and Kenya’s three-time world cross country champion Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya are some of GSC’s top athletes.

Rising Kenyan steeplechase star, Faith Cherotich, is also a GSC athlete while Ethiopian legends Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele also saw their careers develop and reach full potential in the Nijmegen stable.

Nike appreciate Global Sports Communication

At the weekend, Nike appreciated GSC’s role in their R&D at a special Hayward Field ceremony.

GSC’s Performance Director Valentijn Trouw and Marketing Director Marleen Vink-Rennings were very much in the boiler room conjuring up the stable’s various record-breaking runs, working closely with Nike.

Trouw and Hermens attended the Hayward Field ceremony at the weekend. 

“Congratulations to the team at Global Sports Communication on 40 years of industry-defining leadership and passion for serving athletes,” Beaverton (Oregon) headquartered Nike said in a glass-enclosed plaque placed beside Kipchoge’s Nike Air AlphaFly Next% and Kipyegon’s Victory 2 Elite FK spikes.

“From your humble beginnings in a small apartment in the Netherlands, to now hosting one of the most dominant rosters of world-class athletes, the Nike team thanks you for your vision and leadership in innovating and elevating the sport of running to new heights,” Nike added.

“We are so grateful for the incredible partnership over the years – and can’t wait for what’s to come in the future.”

Management changes at GSC

Nike’s gesture came just weeks after Hermens, 75, installed Trouw and Vink-Rennings as GSC company partners alongside long-serving former star athlete Ellen van Langen (Event Director), essentially making them co-owners of the company.

“After building Global Sports Communication for over 40 years, transforming the world of athletics and guiding professional athletes towards achieving their biggest dreams, the time has come for the next step in the future of Global Sports Communication,” a statement announcing the management changes on April 16.

“What Jos has built over four decades is truly unique, with over 100 world records, 42 Olympic gold medals, and 57 world champions under his guidance. 

“What started as a one-man operation out of his apartment in 1985 has turned into the world’s largest sport management agency in athletics.

“Together with his team, Jos has realized groundbreaking initiatives such as the establishment of the Shanghai Diamond League, the creation of the NN Running Team, the pursuit of running a sub-2-hour marathon with Breaking2 and the INEOS 1:59 Challenge, and the creation and worldwide acceptance of the Wavelight technology,” the statement added.

Hermens says the vision behind his company was to develop and professionalize the sport. 

Guarantee sustainable future

“Throughout the years, we have made great progress, but I am still ambitious and see many opportunities within our sport.

“With big ambitions, you need a team of people to drive those ambitions forward. To guarantee a sustainable future, I am looking forward to the participation of Valentijn, Ellen, and Marleen. With the four of us, we will keep driving our sport forward.”

Trouw’s focus focus has been “to develop our athletes from young talents to global stars and help them grow, both as athletes and as human beings in their careers.”

‘I started as a GSC athlete’

“This step won’t change much in terms of my daily work, but it is special to formalize the role within the company,” says Trouw.

“Global Sports Communication has been a life journey for me. I started my career as an athlete with GSC, and when I retired as an athlete, I joined the company as an athlete representative. I later built on expanding the events side of the business. To now become a co-owner of the company feels like completing a full life cycle,” added Ellen van Langen, gold medalist for the Netherlands in the 800m at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Vink-Rennings reacted to her new position at GSC: “The combination of passion for the sport and entrepreneurship is what drives me in my work. I am excited about this next step, since the ambition to bring this sport further and the freedom to step into new opportunities is, to me, the perfect combination. 

“I am looking forward to continuing this journey with Jos, Valentijn, and Ellen, since I strongly believe in teamwork, and the four of us will each contribute in our own way to a sustainable future.”

A lasting impact
“Jos has always placed the well-being of his athletes first and worked with them to pursue long-term careers while constantly pushing for innovation in sports,” GSC’s statement further said.

“The direction of the company will continue to focus on Jos’s values, complemented by the talents and values of Valentijn, Ellen, and Marleen, to secure a sustainable future for the company.”