“Me and Me”: Noah Lyles Openly Boasts About No Competition After Becoming World Champion

The Centennial Olympic Park will host the 2024 edition of the Adidas Atlanta City Games on May 18, 2024. Noah Lyles, a six-time World Championships gold medalist, is the top name to watch in the upcoming Atlanta tournament. Being a dynamic American sprinter, he has always been confident, and after becoming the World Champion in the 200m race, his boldness has only grown. And now, Lyles is set to compete in the men’s 150m sprint event, where he may face tough competition from his brother, Josephus Lyles. However, Noah himself does not see any competition before him!

Before the 2024 Adidas Atlanta City Games commences, Noah Lyles sat down for an interesting interview on his YouTube channel. When the presenters hinted at Lyles appreciating a good competition, he took a pause and said, “I’m trying to think of the last time I had competition in the 200m,” adding, “I’ve been doing this a lot by myself.” He elaborated on his statement by describing his experience in the 200m as “an uphill battle for me and me in the last eight years.” With that, Lyles openly acknowledged his supremacy in the sport, implying that his current competition is to surpass his own past scores.

Lyles mentioned transitioning away from heavy weights and intense workouts at this point in the year. Now he’s focusing on “race sharpness”. When asked about his tweet mentioning he has one of the best workouts, Lyles said even his coach, Lance Brauman, who has trained Tyson Gay and Veronica Miller, is impressed with his speed. Interestingly, he revealed that his practices have been hitting as low as Tyson Gay’s 9.7 seconds 100m performances. Understandably, if this continues, his ambitious claim of breaking Usain Bolt’s records might not look too far-fetched. But that is not the only record under his radar. 

In 2022, Noah won the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in the 200m event. That occasion saw him clocking a time of 19.31s. It brought him to the third position on the all-time list behind Usain Bolt (19.19) and Yohan Blake (19.26). In the Olympic season, Lyles seems to be excited to take up the record-breaking challenges head-on once again. He recently shared a clip of last year’s race on Instagram that showcases his winning moment at the 150m event (14.56s) in the meet, which might be a subtle reminder of his abilities. Such confidence indeed comes from a solid track record he has built over the years.

Breaking boundaries: Noah Lyles’ unstoppable journey toward success

Lyles has cemented himself as a formidable sprinter. He rose to fame in 2019, when he became the youngest World Champion in the 200m event at the age of 22. Since then, it’s been an upward trajectory. In 2023, Noah Lyles set the World Athletics Championships in Budapest ablaze with his electrifying performance. He became the first man since 2015 to win world titles at 100m, 200m, and in the 4x100m relay.

Noah Lyles’ 9.83-second sprint showcased not just speed but also an unwavering pursuit of excellence in the 100m. The sprint treble in Budapest gave him the confidence to aim at a quadruple (100m, 200m, 4x100m, and 4x400m), something that even Usain Bolt does not have under his belt. In one more display of confidence, he recently claimed, “We’re coming after everything. All the Olympic medals. I don’t care who wants it. It’s mine.” After his dominant 2023 season, Lyles definitely has the talent to back up his boastful claims. 

However, he remained tight-lipped in the interview, simply saying, “Something’s going on [about Paris],” quickly acknowledging that he has to make the team first. The sprint trials will be a spectacle to look forward to this year. Fans eagerly anticipate Noah Lyles’ upcoming races, excited to witness his groundbreaking impact on sprinting and athletics.