Noah Lyles beats Erriyon Knighton in 150m sprint race at Atlanta City Games 2023
Lyles, the world 200m champion and Olympic bronze medallist, became the third-fastest man over 150m in history at the Atlanta City Games.
Athletics
Reigning world champion and Olympic bronze medallist over 200m Noah Lyles notched another victory over rival Erriyon Knighton at the 2023 Atlanta City Games track and field athletics meet on Saturday (May 6).
The pair of Americans raced in the 150m straight – a non-World Athletics-recognised distance – in the Centennial Olympic Park, built as a central focal point for the Olympic Games Atlanta 1996.
Lyles, who owns three world championship gold medals, took the race in 14.56 seconds, a time that puts him behind only Usain Bolt (14.35) and Tyson Gay (14.41) over the distance.
Knighton, the world bronze medallist in the men's 200m, finished second in 14.85, while Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala was third in 14.89, making him the fastest African over the distance.
Bolt ran his 14.35 in a race in Manchester, England, in 2009, while Gay's time was set en-route in a 200m straight race in the same city a year later. The previous fastest 150m time by an African was 14.99, set by Frankie Fredericks of Namibia in 1993 en-route to a 200m.
- Noah Lyles on a mission to make more history: 'I love it'
- Noah Lyles vs Erriyon Knighton: The story so far
- Erriyon Knighton on his goals for the 200m: “I actually want to go sub-19”
- Usain Bolt praises Erriyon Knighton: 'He will be a great one'
- Josephus Lyles: Stronger together with my brother Noah
As it is not a World Athletics-recognised distance, world records are not kept for the 150m. World Athletics recognises a world best performance over 150m, but only for races on a track with a bend, and run to that exact distance (times en-route to 200m are not recognised). By that measure, the world best performance belongs to Great Britain's Linford Christie, who ran 14.97 in a 150m bend race in Sheffield in 1994.
Also in Atlanta, Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist Grant Holloway easily took the 110 metre hurdles race in a world-leading 13.01 seconds.
Jamaica's Oblique Seville broke the 10-second barrier to win the men's 100m in 9.99 seconds, while the women's 100m was won by Olympic relay silver medallist Aleia Hobbs in 10.99.