World Athletics Championships: Noah Lyles wins 100m sprint title
Flamboyant American Noah Lyles made big claims before the world championships in Budapest, and the next great of sprinting backed it up, edging his rivals in an epic 100m sprint.
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He’s been pegged to be it for a number of years but now it’s official, Noah Lyles is Usain Bolt’s heir apparent.
The flamboyant American was already jostling for the title with his incredible feats in the 200m but it was the blue riband 100m event which had previously not captured his attention.
In Budapest that changed dramatically. In the lead-up Lyles declared he’d win the sprint double and the 4x100m relay with Bolt’s 200m record of 19.19sec to go while he’d run 9.65 in the 100m.
He went close, running the fastest time of the year and his career, 9.83sec, to earn the title of the world’s fastest man.
After an arrogant semi-final run, the final was a lot closer than Lyles probably liked with a slow start meaning he had to focus all the way to the line where he just edged a trio of rivals who all clocked 9.88sec.
The judge was forced to go to the thousandths of seconds to separate them with rising Botswana star Letsile Tebogo getting silver and a national record, Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes won bronze while Jamaica’s Oblique Seville unluckily had to settle for fourth.
“They said it couldn’t be done. They said I wasn’t the one. But thank God I am!” Lyles screamed into the camera when his name appeared at the top of the scoreboard.
“I believe in God and I believe in the mission that me and my coach have. We trained for nine months for this. For this moment right here. You only got one shot to hit your peak and we made sure that it counted.
“To be one of the legends, you got to win the 100 and then you got to win the 200 and then you got to win the 4x100. This right here is ticket No.1. We have two more to go.”
Lyles thrived on being written off in some quarters after a surprise third-place at last month’s US trials.
“I have taken a lot of losses, even in 100m and going to the U.S. trials with Covid I got the bronze medal but a lot of people cut me off right there,” he said.
“But I knew what I had to do. I came here for three golds, ticked off one, others are coming. The 100m was the hardest one, it is out of the books. I will have fun with the event I love now.”
Since Bolt retired in 2017, no-one has come close to filling the void and becoming a beacon for the sport like the great Jamaican was for almost a decade.
Lyles, 26, was identified early given his brilliance over 200m – he has won the past two world titles – but he needed the 100m in his CV to be truly rated the heir apparent.
His job was made easier after the semi-finals when defending world champion Fred Kerley and reigning Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs were run out.
Like Bolt, there is a lot of showtime about Lyles who is just as comfortable on the runway at Paris Fashion Week or cutting a rap album.
He loves painting, Japanese comics and is an avid Lego piece collector.
Lyles’ journey from Gainesville, Florida to the fastest man on the planet hasn’t been without its issues, particularly when he was younger and being bullied at school.
He has struggled with depression since childhood where he was found to be dyslexic and suffering from attention deficit disorder.
Bullying would be part of his life until adolescence and only athletics saved him.
“The track was the only place where everything was going well, where there were no problems, where I could be calm,” Lyles said in a recent interview.
In Budapest he couldn’t be happier or calmer … and the fun is only just beginning.
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