Did Noah Lyles’ Tips Helped Gymnast Fred Richard Lead US Olympic Trials?

The June 29th blockbuster at Target Center featured a Fred Richard special! After being a front runner on Day 1 of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, the 20-year-old continued his lead, entering the final showdown on Saturday. And once he pulled off a 14.200 on the Vault in the 11 rotation, ‘He’s going’ was the anticipated verdict that reverberated in the arena. Soon, named among the top 5 finalists headlining the USA contingent, Richard who led the AA tally with a 170.500 score, officially qualified.

However, powering Richard to this achievement has perhaps seen substantial contribution from an ace American athlete. And that is none other than the defending 100m world champion, Noah Lyles. You must be wondering how did this cross-sport ‘collab’ happen? Well, let’s dive deep into the details.

Gymnast Fred Richard is Noah Lyles mentee

Yahoo Sports has recently shared a Tik Tok video featuring these two athletes. Captioned, “Noah Lyles gave future gymnastics Olympian, Frederick Richard some much needed coaching on his run 😂” it reminisced the time when Lyles gave Richard ‘tips’ to hone his running skills. Notably, Richard had originally shared this video in May 2024, when he began the ’81 days to the Olympics’ regimen under Lyles. With this, he lifted the curtain over a new and dynamic bond in the sports fraternity, one that was fueled by the spirit to constantly get better.

The video shows Richard on a Face Time call with the ‘world’s fastest man‘ Lyles, where the latter is seen citing that “a lot of issues” exist in the gymnast’s running technique. “What your arms doing man?” questions Lyles as playfully teases Richard. However, he soon assures “I’ll get you right,” which signaled that the six time world champion was about to get down to business.

Commending Lyles for being ‘brutally honest’ Richard hails “that gave me motivation to improve my run and get way more power from my harder vault.” Richard even agreed that religiously following Lyles intricate workouts had reaped results. Showing a clip of his old vault measured against his new vault, the 2024 NCAA all-around silver medalist stated, “It’s not perfect, but I added another twist.”

Lyles had even commented previously, saying, “I know you will shock the world, my friend.” Well, after the marvel he put on display in Minnesota, guess Lyles’ prediction was right. Richard stunned the spectators with his 28.85 High Bar gold, as well as his 29.85 Parallel Bars silver. Moreover, Noah Lyles’ training was enough for him to clinch a 28.4 on Vault. Post this performance recap, let’s also look at Richard’s blossoming friendship with Lyles.

Lyles cheered for his trainee ahead of a do-or-die test

On the day of Fred Richard’s mega finale, Lyles was cheering for the young prodigy. As seen in Lyles’s Instagram story, he had tuned to the live event stream on his television. Sharing a picture of Richard on the screen, Lyles tagged the youngster and wrote, “Let’s go.” 

This wasn’t the first time, though. Via his X handle, Lyles had previously vouched for Richard, whilst he was acing the Xfinity US Gymnastics Championships. Re-sharing NBC Olympics & Paralympics’ post, Lyles wrote “I see you Dog” on Richard’s high bar routine. Evidently, Lyles hardly ever misses an opportunity to root for his fellow athlete.

Fortunately, both of them have passed the Olympic Trials with flying colors, and will be officially representing the US in their respective sports. But do you think Noah Lyles’ routine has proved effective for Richard? Let us know below.