Noah Lyles, who won the 100m gold in Paris, had claimed he would achieve a quadruple in Paris. He said he would conquer the 400m. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to show good results in the 200m itself. After being diagnosed with COVID-19, Lyles finished his 200m race in the third position and was visibly panting after the race was over. His pride and claims invited a lot of criticism, as he wasn’t able to back himself. Amidst this, his 400m claims raised eyebrows. 

The 400m world record (43.03 seconds) is held by South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk. Competing in the Rio Olympics back in 2016, Niekerk achieved the feat that has stood for a solid eight years now. On the contrary, Lyles has never really focused on the 400m and it is only recently that he has taken a liking to the discipline.

Reflecting on Lyles’ prospects in the 400m, Rodney Green and Justin Gatlin sat down in a recent episode of the ‘Tidal League’ podcast to discuss the matter. Green said, “Man, I ain’t even listening to Noah. I, I heard, I heard that tell Noah handle that 200 meter first, you know what I mean? Don’t bite off more than he can chew. But we gonna say you wanna see the 200, see that first 200?” 

Gatlin agreed with him and chanted, “200, 200, 200.”

Back in Tokyo, Noah Lyles won the bronze medal in the 200m event and while he hoped for a better outcome in Paris, he once again won a bronze. No doubt, Green and Galin believe Lyles needs to show improvement in his current discipline before looking further.

Well, in the coming years, Lyles will have a lot of opportunities to break the 200m world record. Prior to Paris, Lyles promised to break both world records of Usain Bolt. While the 100m record of 9:58s does not look plausible as of now, Lyles has a good chance of beating the 19.19s. With his fastest 200m dash clocked at 19.31s back in 2022, Noah Lyles can very well become the fastest man in the 200m discipline.

And while his 400m statement seems to have riled up the track community, this was not the only controversy that Lyles was a part of in recent times. With Lyles, strife never stops!

Noah Lyles’s fallout with Adidas!

Back in February, Noah Lyles signed one of the most lucrative deals with Adidas in track and field history. However, after the 2024 Paris Olympics, things seem to be turning sour between the two sides. After the US men’s basketball team won the gold medal, Adidas sent an invitation to Lyles to attend the felicitation of Anthony Edwards.

Clinching his maiden Olympic gold medal, Adidas wanted to celebrate their athlete. Unfortunately, such a move got Noah Lyles angry. Why?

Reacting to the invitation, Lyles stated, “You want me to do what? You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe?”

The star sprinter felt that despite winning an Olympic gold himself, the brand was favoring Anthony Edwards more. He also demanded his own exclusive sneakers as he felt the spikes did not sell as much as the sneakers. Now, all of this also brought in a negative light towards the sprinter.

Thus, with significant turmoils along his path to the top, it is now time for the champion to get back to action and prove his worth to the naysayers. What do you think?