Noah Lyles

Noah Lyles (born July 18, 1997, Gainesville, Florida, U.S.) is an American sprinter who became known as the “fastest man in the world” after winning a trio of gold medals—in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, and the 4 × 100-meter relay—at the 2023 world championships. At the Paris Olympics the following year, Lyles won the 100 meters in a photo finish to capture his first Olympic gold medal. He has also drawn attention with his confidence and sense of style, and he has sought to make track and field more popular.

Early life

Lyles grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. His parents, Kevin Lyles and Keisha Caine, had both been track-and-field athletes at Seton Hall University. His younger brother, Josephus Lyles, also became a top runner.

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As a young child, Lyles suffered from asthma, which required him to spend time at a hospital so that he could be hooked up to a nebulizer. After he had his tonsils and adenoids removed at age six, his condition improved. Lyles was homeschooled until the second grade, when he began attending the local school. Lyles had difficulty in the classroom and was later determined to have dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Lyles played a variety of sports, including gymnastics. At age 12, he became involved in track and field, and he soon was a standout sprinter. At the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, he won a gold medal in the 200-meter event. Although Lyles initially committed to the University of Florida, he chose to pursue a pro career and signed a deal with Adidas in 2016. That year he won gold medals in the 100 meters and 4 × 100-meter relay at the World U20 Championships.

Stardom

In 2019, at the age of 22, Lyles competed at the U.S. national championships and won the 200-meter race with a time of 19.78 seconds. “There’s a lot of things I wanted to have happen this year,” he said afterward. “And this was the highest on the list.…Have you ever imagined your dream life? Well, I’m living mine.” Later that year he competed in his first world championships and won a gold medal in the 200 meters and the 4 × 100-meter relay.

At the 2021 U.S. national championships, the 5-foot 11-inch (1.8-meter) Lyles won the 200-meter event and placed third in the 100 meters. Going into the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), Lyles was favored to win the gold in the 200-meter race. However, he finished a disappointing third. He returned to form at the 2022 world championships, winning the 200 meters; he also earned a silver medal in the 4 × 100-meter relay.

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Lyles had a breakout year in 2023. At the U.S. national championships, he won the 200 meters in 19.31 seconds, breaking the American record of 19.32 seconds set by Michael Johnson. Then at the 2023 world championships Lyles captured gold medals in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, and the 4 × 100-meter relay. He became the first male runner to win the “sprint treble” since Jamaican legend Usain Bolt accomplished the feat in 2015. By then, Lyles had his sights set on breaking Bolt’s records in the 100-meter and 200-meter events. “I’ve always known that I’m the fastest man in the world,” he said after the world championships in 2023. “Well, in my head, I think I’m going to break it. I’m planning to break it.”

Lyles, who credited a more intense weight-training regime with his 2023 success, is singularly focused on the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. “We’re coming after everything,” he told NBC Sports in February 2024. “All the Olympic medals. I don’t care who wants it. It’s mine.” At the Paris Games, Lyles won a thrilling 100 meters, defeating the second-place finisher, Kishane Thompson of Jamaica, by five-thousandths of a second. Lyles then struggled in his signature event, the 200-meter race, and placed third. After being taken off the track in a wheelchair, he told reporters that two days earlier he had been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Beyond the track

As he has made his mark as an athlete, Lyles also has sought to transcend track and field. In an interview with The Washington Post in 2019, he said:

“Yes, it’s nice to be fast, but what could take you over the top? Usain Bolt, household name. Transcended the sport. Michael Phelps, swimmer, transcended the sport. What is going to take you from being just popular in track to being popular in the world? By being different or by being you. You can’t get to that point by being somebody else.”

Lyles’s individuality is apparent in his varied interests, which include music, art, and fashion. He has drawn particular attention for his efforts to inject some glamour into his sport. Ahead of the 2023 New York City Grand Prix, he organized a red-carpet-style walk-in for the track-and-field competitors at the meet. He was inspired after GQ magazine posted on Instagram the best outfits worn by professional athletes as they entered stadiums. As Lyles told The New York Times, “Why aren’t there any track and field people in here?” Although he was the only athlete who participated in the walk-in, it still made for a celebrity moment, with fans surrounding the young track star, taking photos and asking for autographs.