It’s a chance to see what our athletic and creative heroes get up to in their downtime. And it puts two of the biggest young names in Australian sport front and centre: Mary Fowler and Gout Gout.

Start with Gout. The fastest teenager ever over 200m is, somehow, running behind schedule. In the campaign film, a mate has been waiting on the terraced stands of a running track long enough to ask the obvious question: “How can the fastest guy in Australia be so late?” A joke or two later, all is forgiven.

The fit does most of the talking. Gout, a global ambassador for the Three Stripes, keeps it simple in a white Adidas Originals football T-shirt and lets his accessories handle the rest. It’s a relaxed look for a guy whose numbers are anything but. In April, the 18-year-old (he’ll turn 19 two days before the NYE countdown) ran 19.67 to become the first Australian to break 20 seconds in a wind-legal race over 200m – quicker than Usain Bolt ever ran as a teenager. He says he’ll be “better and stronger and faster” in 2027. Bet.

Mary and Gout aren’t the only ones we get to see off duty and off the clock. The cast stretches across Australia and New Zealand, from All Blacks Ruben Love and Billy Proctor to Black Ferns Tara Turner and Jaymie Kolose, as well as Gold Coast Titans and Kiwis star Keano Kini. They’re joined by JD ambassadors Will Waiirua and Noa Papali’i and content creators Jess Bader, Kaela Tavares and Olivia Mescia. Between them, Nike, adidas, Asics and New Balance are all in the mix.

The film packs in the full end-of-year run. Some of the girls try on JD gear before heading out, then turn the music up in the rideshare. Young Noa (son of legendary Canberra Raiders NRL prop Josh Papali'i) gives Will a hard time for spending a “whole hour” choosing trainers from JD’s extensive selection – though Will walks out of the store with about four shoeboxes and a swag of bags, so hopefully there’s something in there for little bro. It closes out on a hopeful and romantic note as Keano holds hands with his partner, Faith Kini, as the New Year’s Eve fireworks go off over the Brisbane skyline. “It’s been a pretty good year,” he says. “Next year will be even better.”

Here’s to that. JD calls its approach Forever Forward, and it’s hard to think of two better faces for it than Gout and Mary. Still so young, they already move through culture as easily as they do through competition. And as both know better than most, the season – athletic or festive – rarely goes exactly to plan. That’s half the fun – you make it up as you go.