Noah Lyles ahead of the World Athletics Relays: “It’s only getting faster from here”
With the World Athletics Relays right around the corner (4-5 May), all eyes are on six-time world champion Noah Lyles, as the sprint star looks to show his form in a year he has stated he will go for four gold medals at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
USATF confirmed that Lyles will run in the 4x100m relay at the upcoming Worlds alongside Olympic 200m silver medallist Kenny Bednarek and world 200m leader Courtney Lindsey, who boasts a blistering time of 19.71 seconds this year. Kyree King was named as the final athlete, although the line-up is subject to change.
As reigning world champions in the 4x100m, the U.S. will take on reigning Olympic champions Italy, who are led by Olympic 100m and 4x100m champion Marcell Jacobs.
Last year, at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Lyles anchored the U.S. team to an impressive victory over both Italy and Jamaica with a time of 37.38 seconds.
At 22:00 local time (EDT) on 5 May, the gun will fire for the men’s 4x100m relay final and the world will get a glimpse into Lyles' form ahead of the historic mission he has set out to accomplish in Paris.
Noah Lyles of Team United States reacts after winning the Men's 4x100m Relay Final during day eight of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023.
Noah Lyles’ mission for quadruple Olympic gold
Lyles is returning to his 100m roots in the Bahamas after his 4x400m international debut at the 2024 Indoor World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, where the Americans succumbed to the Belgians by 0.06 seconds to take second place.
If he is to secure four gold at Paris 2024, he will need to navigate a challenging combination of the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, plus the 100m and 200m sprints.
One Games, four events, four golds: that’s the goal for Lyles in Paris. It’s a feat that no track star, not even legendary Jamaican track star Usain Bolt, has achieved.
Nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis and four-time champion Jesse Owens are the only two men to claim four athletics golds at a single Games, but both of their tallies included a long jump title, as opposed to Lyles’ attempt at four sprint events.
“A lot of people thought I was just doing it for the headlines,” Lyles told Reuters in a March 2024 interview after his first attempt at the 4x400m relay.
“I just ran the 4x400m in Glasgow (Indoor World Championships), and I felt that was definitely one of my ways of saying that this isn’t a joke.”
The 26-year-old was the fastest of all six team’s third legs in Glasgow, but had the second-slowest time of the American runners with a 45.68 to Christopher Bailey’s 45.32, Jacory Patterson’s 45.97 and Matthew Boling’ s 45.63.
Noah Lyles on fire ahead of World Athletics Relays
After a run of 9.96 in the 100m saw him win his first international outdoor race of the Olympic season - the Bermuda Grand Prix - Lyles took to X to warn his competitors, saying “It’s only getting faster from here.”
Looking ahead to Paris, if Lyles races in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m and 4x400m relays, busy doesn’t even begin to describe hisOlympic schedule.
Racing would begin on 3 August in the Stade de France with the 100m preliminary rounds and the following seven days will be packed with prelims, rounds and finals for each of the four events.
The 4x400m finals will conclude athletics’ events on the track and if he has managed to attain a gold from each of his previous three races, Lyles will feel the weight of expectation on his shoulders, as the smallest margins will likely determine whether he goes down in history as the first man to ever take four golds on the track at a single Games.