Three Consecutive World Championship Titles in 200m... Last Year's 100m Winner
Jamaican Rising Star Kishean Thompson Competes with the 'Bullet Man'
So far, there have been a total of 29 Olympic gold medals awarded in the men's 100m track event. The United States has claimed more than half of them, with 16 gold medals. However, the U.S. has not won a 100m Olympic gold medal for 20 years since the 2004 Athens Olympics. Noah Lyles (27), who inherited outstanding genes from his track athlete parents, is seen as the hope to restore the pride of the track powerhouse, the United States.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) highlighted Lyles as they anticipated the men's 100m race ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics opening.
In June, Lyles won the men's 100m final at the 2024 Paris Olympics U.S. track and field trials held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, setting a personal best of 9.83 seconds. Then, just before the opening of the 2024 Paris Olympics, on the 20th of last month, he also won the 100m at the IAAF Diamond League held in London, UK. He broke his own record set at the U.S. trials by clocking 9.81 seconds. After his victory, Lyles expressed strong confidence in winning the 100m gold medal at the Paris Olympics in an interview. "I will win the 100m race at the Paris Olympics. It’s what I’ve always done."
Lyles’ time ranks third among the men's 100m times recorded this year according to the IAAF. The fastest 100m time this year was recorded by Jamaica’s Kisean Thompson (23), who ran 9.77 seconds at the 2024 Paris Olympics Jamaican trials held in June. The 9.77 seconds is the fastest men’s 100m time since 2022. However, a tailwind of 0.9 m/s was blowing during that trial. When Lyles broke his personal best at the London Diamond League, there was a headwind of 0.3 m/s. Thompson is a newcomer who debuted on the international stage last year. Although his recent rise is remarkable, how he will perform on the big Olympic stage remains a variable. The IAAF identified Thompson as Lyles’ strongest competitor.
Noah Lyles is seen celebrating triumphantly after winning the 100m at the Diamond League hosted by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in London, UK, on the 20th of last month (local time), setting a personal best record of 9.81 seconds. Photo by AFP Yonhap News
Both of Lyles’ parents were track athletes. In particular, his father Kevin Lyles (51) won gold medals as part of the U.S. 1600m relay team at the 1993 Universiade and the 1995 World Championships. At the 1995 World Championships, he ran alongside Michael Johnson (57), a legend in U.S. track and field who holds four Olympic gold medals.
Lyles’ main event is not the 100m but the 200m. In 2022, Lyles ran the 200m in 19.31 seconds, breaking Michael Johnson’s U.S. 200m record of 19.32 seconds, which had stood since 1996, after 26 years. The only person to run faster than Lyles in the 200m is Usain Bolt (38, Jamaica), the world record holder. Bolt’s 200m record of 19.19 seconds, set in 2009, has remained unbroken for 15 years.
At the IAAF World Championships held last year in Budapest, Hungary, Lyles won the 200m. He has won three consecutive titles since the 2019 Doha Championships. Only Bolt and Lyles have won the 200m three times in a row at the biennial World Championships. At last year’s event, Lyles not only secured his third consecutive 200m title but also won the 100m for the first time. He was co-recipient of the IAAF Athlete of the Year award last year.
Lyles aims to prove that he is the new sprint king at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the U.S., there are high hopes that Lyles will become a multi-gold medalist by winning both the 100m and 200m, following in the footsteps of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and Carl Lewis (63) at the 1986 LA Olympics. Owens and Lewis each won four gold medals at those Games in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, and long jump.
Lyles will compete in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, and 4x400m relay at the Paris Olympics. The 4x400m relay holds special meaning as it is the event in which his father won a World Championship gold medal. It also reflects Lyles’ desire to surpass Bolt.
Lyles has expressed admiration for Bolt and said that his dream is to surpass him. Having learned gymnastics as a child, Lyles switched to track after watching the 2012 London Olympics, where Bolt won three gold medals in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. Lyles said he wants to challenge the 4x400m relay because Bolt never won gold in that event.
There are a total of 48 gold medals at stake in the athletics events at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The men's 100m final, which will receive the most attention, will be held at 4:50 a.m. Korea Standard Time on the 5th.
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