Harry Styles has been on a well-deserved break, having ended his blockbuster 22-month Love on Tour sprint in 2023. Little did we know, the Grammy-winning artist hasn’t just been sittin’ at home on the floor for the past couple years.
He’s popped up sporadically in the public the past 12 months, notably with the very-stylish, now-ex-girlfriend Taylor Russell, at London Fashion Week, and more recently at the funeral of his former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne. But on Sunday, March 2, spectators at the Tokyo Marathon caught glimpses of the “Late Night Talking” singer doing literal laps on the streets of Japan before he finished with a 3:24:07 race time.
The most stylish man of the year in 2020, according to GQ readers, was seen sporting a look that shows running fits can look equally as good as your typical going-out getup. Styles was rocking racing sunglasses, a white headband, a black Nike hoodie, Tracksmith short-shorts, and (presumably) the Nike Alphafly 3 sneakers.
Styles’ choice of sneakers (or “trainers” as the UK-born musician would call them) makes sense given the Alphafly 3s are the Swoosh’s fastest (and most expensive) running shoes. Nike literally designed the Alphaflys for marathons, with a full-length carbon fiber plate for forward propulsion and dual Air Zoom units for powerful springiness. Its propensity for getting runners to cross the finish line at 26.2 miles could be the reason how Styles managed such an impressive run time (in addition to the hours of dedication to training and his diet, we presume). At his race time, Styles was averaging under eight miles an hour, and you can even view his splits at the Tokyo Marathon website.
Our resident marathoner and running shoe expert Tanner Bowden, who has completed the Tokyo Marathon himself, called the Alphafly 3s the best elite racing shoes from Nike, saying “the shoe looks like a spaceship and moves about as fast as one, with a massive stack height that feels so distinctly propulsive it makes you want to run fast.”
Could you beat Styles’ race time? Depending on your aptitude for running, there’s a non-zero chance you might. Of the over 38,000 runners who took part in this year’s Tokyo Marathon, Styles’ unofficial ranking was 6,010—quite an impressive feat for a “Golden” boy.
