"Noah Lyles about to be a problem outdoors"- Justin Gatlin backs World Champion to excel in 100m after 60m brilliance in Boston
Noah Lyles set a personal best 60m in Boston, and Justin Gatlin predicted his performance in the upcoming Olympic season.
Lyles has been an impressive performer ever since 2019. Winning the gold medal in the 200m at the World Championships held in Doha, Noah was the favorite for the Olympics which were all set to take place in Tokyo. However, Lyles won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics with a time of 19.74, which was his season's best performance.
Since then, he has been dominating the track season. He clocked 19.31 in the 200m final at the World Championships in Eugene which was the third fastest time ever recorded in a 200m event. Lyles began the indoor season of 2024 with an impressive personal best time of 6.44s.
In a recent interview, former Olympic medalist Justin Gatlin spoke on Noah's impressive performance at the indoor championships. He went on to predict how Noah would perform in the outdoor season which would eventually lead to the Olympic Games.
"He is about to do something stupid. Thats what I thought. Then he went back in the finals and thats exactly what he did. I watched him, standard Noah start but that tranistion, that transition was impressive. I was actually impressed by it. I was like yeah, he about to be a problem outdoors. If he runs the 100m just like he ran that 60, he about to be a problem outdoors for real. I see 9.7 as the future," Gatlin said.
Noah Lyles' career as a junior athlete
Noah Lyles started in sports as a gymnast. However, he switched to track and field at the age of 12. With his parents being former track and field athletes themselves, who competed at the university level, he took up track and field.
Lyles would participate in multiple disciplines in track and field like the high jump, but primarily his event was sprinting. He won the gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games 2014 in the 200m.
All through the years, Lyles followed his pursuit to make it onto the professional circuit as a sprinter. Lyles participated in the United States Olympic trials in 2016 in the 100m and 200m. He clocked an impressive 20.09s in the finals of the qualifying event creating a new high school record in the 200m.
Although Noah did not qualify for the Rio Olympics in 2016, he qualified for the World U20 Championships and won two gold medals in the 100m and the 4x100m relay.