Editor’s Note: Although we at MH have complete faith that Mr. Styles would crush MdS, alas this story was merely a product of our editors’ imaginations, and a contribution to April’s Day 2026. Hopefully, Harry is now inspired to take on the big ultra in the desert after he wraps his massive Together, Together tour and MSG residency in New York. We’ll be looking out for you this fall on a World Marathon Major course, Sted.
At this point, Harry Styles being a serious runner shouldn’t surprise anyone. He made his marathon debut in Tokyo before going on to run 2:59:13 at Berlin — a sub-3 finish that puts him in the top 5% of all marathon finishers worldwide. He’s been on the cover of Runner’s World. He’s spoken at length about what running means to him. His pre-long-run ritual, by his own admission, involves tracking down “the biggest croissant I can find.” By most reasonable measures, he’s one of us.
But the Marathon des Sables is a different beast entirely.
We first heard the rumour in late January through a contact in the ultrarunning world. We sat on it for a few weeks, made some calls, and last week got confirmation directly from a member of his management team: Harry Styles is entered in the 2026 Marathon des Sables, the race’s 40th edition.
“He’s been building towards something like this for a while,” his rep, Joan Song of DawBell Agency, told us. “The marathon stuff was never just a phase. The MdS felt like the right next step.”
What he’s actually walking into
The Marathon des Sables is roughly 250 kilometers across the Moroccan Sahara, split across six stages over six days. This year’s edition is staged in the Draa Valley near Ouarzazate in southern Morocco — the 40th running of the race, and expected to be the biggest in its history.
The format is self-supported, which means you carry everything you need to survive on your back: all your food for the week, sleeping kit, a compass, a distress flare, a snake bandage, and enough calories to fuel somewhere north of 250 kilometers (155 miles) of desert running. The pack usually ends up between eight and 12 kg at the start. Water is the one thing provided — rationed at checkpoints along the route.
Temperatures during the day regularly exceed 50°C. At night, out in the open Berber bivouac tents the race provides, it can drop close to freezing. Stage four — the infamous long stage — is typically around 80 to 90 kilometers (50-55 miles), which most competitors run through the night.
It is, in short, nothing like running 26.2 miles through Berlin on a closed road with a gel station every five kilometres. The MdS has a habit of destroying people who show up fit but underprepared, and it really doesn’t care who you are.
So is this actually a good idea?
Styles has spent the better part of two years building a legitimate running base with David Thibo, a former British Special Forces operator who has been his trainer since at least 2022. Thibo’s approach is old school and punishing: high aerobic volume, strength work, and sessions like a one-mile time trial followed immediately by 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 air squats. Styles can run a mile in 5:13. The fitness is real.
For the MdS specifically, he’s been doing weighted pack runs on the South Downs, heat acclimatization work, and back-to-back long efforts designed to simulate running on tired legs — the thing that breaks most first-timers. He’s also, according to his publicist Song, been obsessing over his pack food strategy, which is exactly what people who take this race seriously do.
The unknown quantity — as it always is for road runners crossing into desert ultras — is everything that isn’t fitness. The heat. The sand in your shoes for six consecutive days. The blisters that don’t get to heal. Running stage four on a body that’s already been through three days of it.
When we asked Styles about the jump from road marathons to the Sahara, he kept it short: “I’ve done a couple of marathons now and I keep waiting to feel like I’ve had enough. That feeling hasn’t come. The MdS felt like the honest next question to ask. I’m genuinely terrified, which I’ve learned is usually a good sign.”
We also asked whether the lack of a croissant checkpoint at kilometer 80 was a concern. His team did not respond to that one.
He lines up in early April alongside over 1,000 other competitors. We’ll have full coverage throughout race week.
