A few hours before some of the world’s fastest runners ran a few hundred meters very quickly, they were asked to run very slowly for about 30 meters.
Organized by Noah Lyles, the walk-in involved a dress code.
“If you’re warming up in it, that’s wrong,” said Lyles, an Olympic and world championship medalist, ahead of the NYC Grand Prix, a United States track and field meet, held at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island on Saturday.
One of the biggest names in the sport, Lyles has made it his mission to add a track to the list of sports that turned a nondescript walk to the locker room into a red carpet photo op.
The idea came to him while scrolling through Instagram last year after GQ magazine posted some of the best outfits pro athletes have worn entering stadiums around the world.
“Why aren’t there any track and field athletes here?” Lyles wondered.
“Obviously it doesn’t happen because we don’t,” he replied to his own question. “But why don’t we do that?”
His mind works as fast as his feet. Surely he could do it. Maya Bruney, a former sprinter, was right there with him. In November 2022, she founded Track and Fits on Instagram, which has grown into the sport’s equivalent of the popular LeagueFits, a place where, according to the website, “Hoop and his lifestyle collide.”
The February 4th New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston would be a proving ground. Lyles ran in what he dubbed the “Men in Black” outfit, which earned him flame emojis on Instagram from a who’s who of the world’s best runners. Sprinter Trayvon Bromell came in in snakeskin pants. American Olympian Aleia Hobbs appeared wearing Louis Vuitton sunglasses and a white puffer coat.
Lyles organized another walk-in at the Millrose Games in New York City a week later. A few athletes have come back, and he answered many questions from those who were intrigued, if not intimidated, by the idea.
“I had to explain to a lot of athletes what the idea was, which I think would be the easiest part because everyone watches the NBA and NFL,” he said. “But I think I’m the only one paying attention.”
When the Atlanta City Games were held in May, Lyles was a one-man event planner. He organized a venue with competition directors, provided appropriate changing areas, directed photographers to their seats, and made sure vehicles — not team transporters, just black cars, he said — dropped off the athletes at the right place.
Lynna Irby-Jackson, Gabby Thomas, Freddie Crittenden, Noah Williams and Anna Hall entered the venue in clothing clearly unsuitable for warm-up exercises.
“It’s really good for the sport,” said Thomas, a two-time Olympic medalist. “Anytime there’s something you can do that supports and advances athletics as a whole, I’m there to do it.”
This month Hall, Joseph Fahnbulleh and Tara Davis-Woodhall followed at the Diamond League event in Florence, Italy. Both the USATF, the sport’s governing body in the United States, and World Athletics have pledged their support.
Why is this happening now, especially in a sport that has long tried to garner attention in non-Olympic years?
“It’s social media,” said Sanjay Ayre, a retired sprinter, at Saturday’s New York Grand Prix. He strode to a VIP tent wearing an oversized Balenciaga raincoat, Balenciaga shoes and a bucket hat. That wasn’t the case when he represented Jamaica in the early 2000s, he said.
In fact, the crossover was seen on the runways of Paris Fashion Week a few days before meeting in New York. Wales Bonner chose Ethiopian distance runners Yomif Kejelcha and Tamirat Tola to model for a Spring 2024 collection called Marathon.
On Friday afternoon, Kwasi Kessie, Lyles’ stylist, brought a few outfits to his Midtown Manhattan hotel. Lyles quickly settled on a “Who Decides War” top, a green jumper with window-like holes throughout the silhouette – because nobody was brave enough to wear it, he said. He scoffed at the suggestion of wearing a shirt underneath. “For a body like this, I train 365 days,” he said. “We don’t need a shirt.”
Lyles and his agent Mark Wetmore had already invited a handful of athletes to walk-in at the NYC Grand Prix. Expecting a mix of some of the sport’s biggest names: Christian Coleman, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Athing Mu, Thomas and Devon Allen.
But in the hours leading up to Saturday’s event, it became clear that Lyles would be the only athlete to complete the 30-meter walk-in. Media commitments and scheduling conflicts were blamed for the no-shows.
Seeing what happened when Lyles arrived, the other athletes might have wished they had adjusted their schedules.
By midday, a handful of men with walkie-talkies and earphones began organizing a growing crowd of fans with foam fingers and notepads ready for autographs. “His estimated time of arrival is now 12:21,” one said to the other as two security guards took their places.
Just in time, a black SUV appeared next to an ice cream truck. Lyles got out of the car wearing “Who Decides War” pants with a palm tree and wave print and Timberland boots. Dozens of fans craned their necks for the best view and shrieked at the sight of him. Cameras recorded every step. Fans thrust pens and posters into his hands and jumped when he signed them. Completely absorbed in admiration, he could hardly take a step forward.
Within hours, Lyles won the 200 meters with a time of 19.83 seconds.
But at that moment he had already arrived. He was just working to take his sport with him.
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