Fresh from his recent triathlon world record feat, ‘Made in Chelsea’ star Spencer Matthews smashed the three-hour barrier for a marathon in Tokyo on Sunday.
The entrepreneur, who has swapped reality TV fame for a life currently focussed on extreme endurance, completed PROJECT SE7EN in December last year.
That saw him complete seven 140.6-mile triathlons on seven continents in just 21 days, nine hours and 18 minutes, finishing his seventh full-distance triathlon in Antarctica to set a new benchmark and raise vital awareness for men’s mental health.
Each of those featured a marathon and in 2024 he ran 30 marathons in 30 consecutive days across desert terrain but until now none of those were close to the milestone sub-three-hour mark.
‘Happy and proud’
But that all changed – and in some style – in Tokyo, in what was the first Abbott World Marathon Major of 2026 as Matthews joined more than 38,000 others on the streets of the Japanese capital.
And posting the good news on his Instagram page, Spencer said: “Official chip time of 2:57:42 at the Tokyo Marathon… A PB by 8 minutes 32 seconds.
“My first sub 3 hour marathon. I’m really happy and proud…. Terrible shin pain in the lead up to race day and a shocking nights sleep last night allowed some doubt to creep in this morning but knew as soon as we stated running that I should be fine. 👊 (I went to bed at 8pm and ended up falling asleep at 2:32am…. Shocker)
“Massive thanks to my boys @joshharryrose & @shanemcguigan for running with me and pushing me through the tougher moments.
“What an incredible end to our first trip to Japan. A massive milestone achieved that me a few years ago would never have dreamed of.”
Even quicker than Harry Styles
And a closer look at the race results underline just how well he paced the 26.2 miles / 42.2 kilometres.
He took just under 21 minutes for his first 5km and pretty much maintained that throughout. All his 5km splits were between 20:44 and 21:04 bar the 35-40km one which was a fraction slower at 21:53.
His first half was 1:27:46, with the second one 1:29:57.
Twelve months earlier in Tokyo, musician and actor Harry Styles ran a 3:24:07 and then went on to go under three hours himself later in the year in Berlin with a 2:59:13.
Here are Spencer’s splits from Tokyo this year…
| Distance | Cumulative time | Split |
|---|---|---|
| 5km | 0:20:51 | 0:20:51 |
| 10km | 0:41:35 | 0:20:44 |
| 15km | 1:02:22 | 0:20:47 |
| 20km | 1:23:11 | 0:20:49 |
| Half | 1:27:46 | 0:04:35 |
| 25km | 1:44:03 | 0:16:17 |
| 30km | 2:04:54 | 0:20:51 |
| 35km | 2:25:58 | 0:21:04 |
| 40km | 2:47:51 | 0:21:53 |
| Finish | 2:57:43 | 0:09:52 |
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