"I like what Noah Lyles is doing for the sport"-Canada's Andre de Grasse claims American sprinter motivates him, looks forward to the rivalry with USA

By Soumik Bhattacharya

Modified Aug 13, 2024 14:46 GMT

Former 200m Olympic champion, Andre De Grasse, recently elaborated on the influence that Noah Lyles has brought to the discipline of track and field. This comes just a few days after Canada's 4x100m relay team won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Following the team's victory, De Grasse appeared in an interview with CBC Olympics during which he was asked about his opinion on Lyles. This came after an old video of the latter resurfaced on social media in which he was taking a jibe at Canada's 4x100m relay team at the World Athletics Relays.

In response to this, De Grasse shared some kind words and showed immense respect for his United States counterpart, Lyles. The Canadian sprinter also remarked during the interview that the prowess Lyles brings to the track motivates him immensely to bring out his best performance.

He stated (via CBC Olympics):

"I like what he's doing for the sport. I mean, to be honest, I mean it's bringing eyes to the sport. He's very competitive and his personality is big. I mean that's what we need. So it's good to have the rivalry between him and myself, and even Canada versus US."

He added:

"I love what Noah is doing for the sport, it's very fun. It's very competitive. And he definitely motivates me to bring out my best."

Both De Grasse and Lyles had contrasting performances at the French capital. While Lyles ended the 2024 Olympics with a gold (100m) and a bronze medal (200m), De Grasse was eliminated from both events in the semifinal stage.

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Andre De Grasse leads Canada's 4x100m relay team to gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024

Canadian 4x100m relay team at the 2024 Paris Olympics (Image via Getty)

Even though Andre De Grasse failed to clinch a medal in the individual events, the Canadian produced a solid performance to take Canada's 4x100m relay team to gold at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Running in the last leg of the relay, Andre De Grasse clocked a run time of 8.89 seconds to give Canada a gold medal in the event after a long wait of 28 years. Besides De Grasse, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney contributed significantly to the win with their run times of 8.98 seconds and 9.20 seconds.

This performance by Canada's relay team in the event finals was also their season-best in this 2024 track and field season. South Africa's team comprising Bayanda Walaza, Shaun Maswanganyi, Bradley Nkoana, and Akani Simbine finished just behind Canada even after registering a new African record in the event with a run time of 37.57 seconds.