"The inspiration for these darts are from a Nike running shoe" - Emma Paton names athletics legend who inspired new signature darts

Emma Paton went back to her athletic routes when creating her new signature darts, singling out Eliud Kipchoge’s Nike trainers as the inspiration to the arrows.

One of the current faces of darts, the Sky Sports presenter launched her Emma Paton Edit 90% Tungsten Steel Tip Darts in July 2026 in collaboration with Winmau.

Kipchoge was one of the greatest marathon runners of all time. He won the Olympic gold medal twice while holding the world marathon record from 2018 to 2023. He also became the first ever person to run a marathon in under two hours during the un-official INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna back in 2019.

It was this Kenyan's runners Nike trainers that Paton drew inspiration from when creating her darts. A former 400m runner in her University days, she made the switch to sports journalism and presenting, moving away from athletics as she prominently covers darts. This had led her to forming her new signature darts.

When speaking to She’s Got Game, Paton unearthed the unique story over where her inspiration for her darts design came from. "Funny story, the inspiration for these darts are from a Nike running shoe," she said.

“Players already have a base because they know their colour scheme and even their character. Even their nickname, it all feeds into their darts. Whereas I was really starting from scratch."

It was tough at the beginning to think of an idea to base it off. “I was trying to think, where do I start from here? So, I thought about my favourite running trainers. The feeling of when it is a Sunday morning and you have a nice, long run ahead of you. You are putting on your new trainers for the first time. So, loosely, this is based off Pegasus 35 Turbo from 2018."

This is where Kipchoge comes in. “It was a shoe made for Eliud Kipchoge which was more like an everyday runner but a replica of his racing shoe," she stated. “You will be looking at it and be like, it doesn’t really look like the dart because it has a grey colour, but it has got this pop of hot punch."

She described the appearance. “So, you have a racing stripe down the middle. The tick is that colour. The aim for me was to have something that was sleek with this pop of colour. The midsole is like two different types of foam. So, the darts is two pieces. So, that is where it came from. It is random.”

These new darts have not made Paton a sensational darts player, with her joking about her level on the oche. “Oh God, [my average] is so bad. Do you know what it is? The finishing that really just, it’s awful."