Noah Lyles: The New Face of Men’s Sprinting
Crossing the line in the 200m final, Noah Lyles looked annoyed. Never mind that he was now a five-time world champion, or that he would soon become the first man since Usain Bolt in 2015 to complete the sprint triple (100m, 200m, and 4x100m) at a World Championships. Such are the expectations Lyles puts on himself that anything shy of the world record was always going to be unsatisfying.
“The game plan has always been to transcend the sport.”
That has been Lyles’ unwavering objective – seemingly his mantra – since turning professional as a teenager, and he sees the world record as one step on that journey to immortality.
Lyles made his first impact on the track at the 2014 Youth Olympics when he won gold over 200m. In 2016, he became the U20 world champion for 100m and helped the USA secure the world junior 4x100m title. In the same year, he graduated high school and turned professional, signing a deal with Adidas. It was in a meeting with his agent at the end of 2016 that Lyles declared his goals for the very first time. Reflecting on that meeting, Lyles says that he “…was explaining what my goals were and was talking about ‘[I] want to transcend the sport.’”
That task is every bit as difficult as it sounds. When Bolt retired after the 2017 World Athletics Championships, he left a void that could never realistically be filled. His successor, who has come to be Lyles, was always going to be compared to the great Jamaican, whose career was truly a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle: just as the likes of Ali and Bradman remain peerless long after their retirement, so too will Bolt.
Usain Bolt (R) celebrates winning the men’s 100m final at the 2008 Olympics
While Lyles may not have captivated the world in the same chest-thumping-before-the-finish-line way that Bolt did, his showmanship, genuine efforts to grow the sport, and four consecutive years (at the time of writing) as the world’s leading 200m sprinter have put him in a strong position to chase after his most ambitious goal.
“I feel we have a great sport,” he explains. “But I am a firm believer that track and field is just not marketed the right way. We could do a better job in selling ourselves and selling our stories.”
Lyles is leading this charge from the front. He is starring in a Netflix documentary produced in the same vein as “Drive to Survive” and is the focus of other documentaries currently streaming on Peacock and Apple TV. He has run an all-access YouTube channel for almost a decade and is trying to merge art and culture with his sport to bring more attention to athletics.
In 2020, Lyles and his brother Josephus, also a professional sprinter, launched The Lyles Foundation to empower young people through advancing health and wellness in communities around America.
Speaking with NBC in 2023, Lyles was asked about his efforts to redefine the landscape of what it means to be a professional track and field athlete.
“When I started my professional career, I remember meeting my agent for the first time and speaking about my goals...I told [him] that I wanted to transcend the sport. I refuse to just be another athlete that is known for running. Whether that’s been coming into the sport wearing crazy socks and people identifying with that, doing backflips after races, going to Met Galas and US Opens, doing deals with OMEGA so I’m not just known as a track guy – I’m a watch guy as well. Getting involved with other brands so that I’m known as a man of fashion and culture, and talking to other sports – that’s always been the goal. A lot of people will be like ‘well, the world record has to be your magnum opus.’ And the answer is no. That’s just another stepping stone to pushing the sport along.”
Lyles isn’t so naive to think one sprinter will untangle decades of frustrations at the lack of development and innovation in athletics. Yet, he wonders whether the sport’s decision-makers are considering fresh ideas.
“We have got to treat ourselves like a business, not like a nonprofit,” Lyles implored World Athletics president, Sebastian Coe, after being named Men’s Track Athlete of the Year in 2023.
“Hopefully, the money will come. But if we aren’t even professional with ourselves, then we’re just a joke.”
The American has also been critical of those not striving to grow the sport and expressed his disappointment when he spoke at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
“As I look around this World Championships, I don’t see Bolt, I don’t see Asafa Powell. I don’t see Yohan Blake, and he’s still running. Where are all these great champions? We look at them, as we’re walking through the tunnel, at all of these previous world champions. Why are they not here?”
But, as another Olympic year dawns, Lyles understands that his primary focus must be on winning in Paris. His final ascent to superstardom hinges on his performance in the French capital.
“I heard him say — and it’s so true — a world championship is an amazing accomplishment, but the outside world, the people who don’t follow track year-to-year, all they want to know is: did you win the Olympics?” explained Lyles’ mother, who is also his manager.
“Medals are the first step, because then people pay attention to you. And then you can go into different directions. Fashion. Music. You can start collaborating with other people, artists, and the world.”
That’s not to say that Lyles doesn’t already have plenty of achievements to his name. He has broken 20 seconds for 200m more than anyone else in history, has not lost a 200m race since 2021, and is ranked third on the all-time list for the half-lap. But he has never won gold on the biggest stage.
Nevertheless, the most influential names in the sport are behind him. In June last year, after Lyles won a 200m in Kingston, Jamaica, the man whose records and global-icon status Lyles chases strode over and embraced him.
“Let me say something. Keep your same attitude.”
“Appreciate it,” Lyles said.
“No,” Bolt said. “The sport needs that shit. We need a personality. All right?”
Noah Lyles (L) and Usain Bolt (R) speak following Lyles’ victory over 200m in Kingston