Noah Lyles, the face of American track and field, has boldly declared his intention to win “all of the medals” at the Paris 2024 Olympics. At the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Lyles made history by becoming the first man since Usain Bolt to win gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. Now, he aims to etch his name in Olympic history, building on his bronze medal in the 200m in Tokyo 2020. Lyles boasts an impressive array of accolades: an Olympic bronze, six world titles, and four Diamond League Final trophies. His crowning achievement came at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, where he completed a remarkable sprint treble, retaining his 200m crown from 2019 and 2022. This rare feat cemented his status as the first man since Bolt in 2015 to win gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay.
A longtime admirer of Bolt, Lyles has openly expressed his desire to break the Jamaican icon’s longstanding records in the 100m and 200m events. “I’ve always known that I’m the fastest man in the world,” Lyles confidently stated after his triumph in Hungary. “Well, in my head, I think I’m going to break it. I’m planning to break it.” Lyles’ rise to prominence coincided with Bolt’s retirement from the sport. He won his first Diamond League meet in 2017, secured his first outdoor World Championship gold in 2019, and claimed his first Olympic medal, a bronze in the men’s 200m, at the Tokyo 2020 Games. In 2022, Lyles further established himself as a sprinting great by clocking 19.31 seconds in the 200m at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, placing him third on the all-time leaderboard for the event.
In the final Diamond League meeting before the Paris Olympics, Lyles ran a personal best of 9.81 seconds in the 100 meters, solidifying his status as a top contender. This performance, in front of a sellout crowd of 60,000, marked the fastest time of his career, clipping two-hundredths off his previous best. Lyles emerged victorious despite a sluggish start, showcasing his supreme transition in the latter half of the race.
“That was fun,” Lyles remarked after the race. “I could have had a better start, but the transitions were great and coming away with a PB, this has been what I prayed for and what I wanted.” His 9.81-second finish is the third-fastest time globally this year, trailing only Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson and Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala.
Looking ahead to Paris 2024, Lyles is not shy about his ambitions. “I’m going to win,” he declared. “That’s what I always do.” As the newly crowned “fastest man in the world,” a title he earned by winning both the 100m and 200m at the 2023 World Championships, Lyles is poised to pursue unprecedented success at the Olympics.
Lyles has revealed an audacious plan for Paris 2024: a bid to win four gold medals by adding the 4x400m relay to his repertoire. This bold move underscores his ambition to strike faster than lightning and dominate the global stage, leaving an indelible mark on the world of athletics.