In a candid conversation, Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles discussed his profound interest in fashion and how he incorporated it into his track and field career. While he believed that athletes needed to express themselves through personality, he also believed that it was crucial for the sport to evolve.
Lyles spoke with Stan Verrett on SportsCenter, and the host eventually mentioned that the sprinter had attended the New York Fashion Week. The athlete wasn’t just a spectator; he wore a Willy Chavarria-designed Adidas fit and walked on the ramp alongside various professional models.
So Verrett asked the track star, “Why is style so important to the way you present Noah Lyles to the world?”
With a smile, the athlete remarked that he appreciated participating in activities he had always been interested in, whether sprinting or anything off-track.
He went on to say that when he was younger, he was not very interested in fashion, but eventually, it became one of his core parts of life, apart from athletics.
“If you look at me as a kid, you know, I was just wearing dad jeans. I didn’t care what I wore. As long as I was fast, that’s all I cared about. But, eventually, I found it as a way to express myself.“
Lyles discovered fashion as a platform for self-expression, but he did not find the same mindset among other athletes or fans when he reached the pinnacle of the sport.
He had never seen magazines like GQ, which focuses on fashion, conduct interviews with track stars or athletes who use tunnel walks to express themselves instead of simply being a running machine to the fans.
Thus, in his quest to revolutionize the sport, he proposed that track meets emphasize these captivating aspects, viewing them as a means of “getting into the next market.”
The 100-meter Olympic winner was conscious of track and field’s decreasing popularity, and he saw fashion as a savior in restoring the sport to prominence.
Lyles has been a trend setter in track and field. With spells on and off the track, he has brought much attention to the sport and earned respect from a global audience.
He effectively built up the excitement for the Paris Olympics by becoming the 100-meter Olympic champion and silenced all naysayers. There are still many targets on his bucket list, and until the next Olympic season, he will focus on honing his abilities to extract more performance from himself.
