You love and dislike him, but you can’t escape him. Everywhere you look, it’s hard not to come across Noah Lyles. His boisterous demeanor often catapults him in public view. After an abrupt stint at the French capital, the Olympian has been enjoying the streets of the Big Apple. However, the anime connoisseur has come forward to shine a light upon yet another trait—something he isn’t a fan of either. What could it be? 

In a casual sit-down conversation with mixed feelings’, Hyperspecific, the 27-year-old had to answer a series of questions that let his fans see a different side of him. When asked what the one destructive trait he wishes he didn’t have is, the Olympian’s answer will surprise you! “I can be extremely petty.” The sprinter further elaborated that his mother has a term for this—ornery. “When I get stressed, I get very ornery… I’m very quick to [make a] judgment.” While we might have witnessed glimpses of his grumpy self, it is refreshing to see the Olympic 100m champion admit to it. 

However, Noah Lyles explained what he meant by that. “I’m very quick to jump to passive aggressiveness and pettiness.” He has never shied away from speaking his mind. With this, the sprinter has often landed in hot water several times. Leading up to the Paris Olympics, fans got a glimpse of this side on the sprinter’s social media. After running a blistering 9.92 seconds in the first round of the U.S. Olympic trials, the 27-year-old had a few words for his compatriot Kyree King. 

To celebrate his feat, the sprinter shared a video of the best moments from the race on Instagram: “We just get warming up.” While the motive was to send a message to his competitors, his caption is what caught everyone’s attention. King even mentioned that regardless of the results, their battle in Oregon matters the most. So, why doesn’t he care much for this particular trait? “I’m not the biggest fan of having that trait because I know what it feels like to be on the other end.” The comments that came after are a testament to that. 

Noah Lyles redeemed himself in the 100m finals with an insane time of 9.79 seconds on August 4. With his confidence at an all-time high, the sprinter sent out another message before the 200m finals on August 8th. “When I come off the turn, they will all be depressed.” But history repeated itself. While Letsile Tebogo went on to win the 200m finals in 19.46 seconds, the 27-year-old trailed behind with 19.70 seconds on the clock. After his chase for golden glory fell short, the sprinter took some time off the track and kicked his feet up, venturing into fields other than the ones involving tracks.

Noah Lyles is keeping his distance from the tracks for now

Lyles first made his way to the NYFW, setting the runway on fire by walking the Adidas subsection for Willy Chavarria’s SS25 Collection. The sprinter was spotted wearing white Adidas shorts, knee-high socks, fresh kicks, and a white head and armband with ‘AMÉRICA’ displayed across it. His bold statement turned several heads. However, Lyles couldn’t keep himself away from the sports world for too long.

Noah Lyles then made his way over to the US Open. He enjoyed the nail-biting finale between Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka from the stands. As for his own sport, he opened up about what the rest of his season will look like. “No, no, no. I ended my season; you know, we just decided that after the COVID situation, we were just going to call it there, and I didn’t want to keep pushing.” This surprised his fans. Many hoped he would be back to reignite his winning streak. We might not get to see him on the track. But his refreshingly honest take has fans excited about what’s to come next.