Even after a delay to the beginning of his season caused by injury, Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles believes his form is as good as, if not better than, it was last summer when he won gold in Paris. Lyles’s dramatic win at the Stade de France last season was by the tightest of margins, and he then won bronze in the 200m after fighting Covid.
On Saturday, for the first time since that Olympic 100m final, the 28-year-old American will face Jamaican Kishane Thompson, the 24-year-old he edged out by a mere five-thousandths of a second in Paris.
The Glory Race: 100m Takes Center Stage
Speaking before the Silesia Diamond League meet in Chorzow, Poland, Lyles pointed to the importance of the 100m.
“The 100m is clearly the race of glory, it’s clearly the one that brings you the most publicity,” he stated. Lyles further explained that though his 200m medal was a success, it would have had less effect world-wide if he had won the 100m.
Long-Awaited Showdown Against Thompson
Lyles conceded that he had wished for a face-to-face encounter with Thompson in Jamaica.
“Personally, I just wanted to just have a one-on-one race in Jamaica,” he said. “I figured that would have just been great, me and Kishane right beside each other, lane for lane, it was just the two of us duking it out. I feel like we could have brought in sold-out crowd for sure, I figured that would have been a lot of fun.”
But the highly anticipated duel will be held now in Poland, where Lyles considers it as part of his crucial build-up for the September 13-21 World Championships in Tokyo.
“These are the largest competitions, at high level. This is literally preparing myself to say, ‘This is what it’s going to be like, if not more intense, as I approach Tokyo’. I have to get into that mindset. So I have to be in those scenarios,” he stated.
Rounding Into Peak Condition
Lyles indicated that he believes he is peaking.
“The things I’ve experienced out on the track have indicated that I’m right where I was a year ago, or even moving in the direction in which I was going a year ago, if not better,” he said.
He also foretold a quick and competitive race on Saturday, with US teammates Kenny Bednarek, Christian Coleman, Lindsey Courtney, and Trayvon Bromell, and South African sprinter Akani Simbine, participating in the fray.
“You basically have the Olympic final maybe missing two people, but including some just-as-fast people,” Lyles said. “Having Kishane there makes it even better. It’s going to be a moment that everyone’s looking at their calendar, saying ‘OK this is what I’m basing my world championships picks off’.”
A Showman on the Track
Lyles was unequivocal about his draw and appeal.
“There are certainly races that include Noah and there are races that don’t include Noah and I’ve seen the results for races that don’t include me and they don’t perform too well,” he said. “You sit and watch the races with me and you’re like, ‘Oh wow yeah there’s a lot more viewership’. I’m not saying I’m the face of the sport, I’m just saying that there’s a lot more interest when I run it. A showman, a rock star, yes that’s a very good way to describe how I like to view myself when I go into a track meet and how I want to interact with the crowd.”
Saturday’s Diamond League competition in Chorzow is setting up as high-stakes affair, not only as a trial of velocity but as an exhibition of Lyles’s celebrity status on the international athletics stage.
