"I didn't see Noah Lyles"- Oblique Seville opens up on viral stare-down moment while defeating the American before the Paris Olympics 

By Adityan Pillai

Modified Nov 18, 2024 03:25 GMT

Oblique Seville opened up about the viral stare-down moment with Noah Lyles at the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston, Jamaica. The Jamaican athlete revealed how having a strong start and incredible drive phase led him to dominate the American athlete in the early moments of the race. As he reached the finish line, he looked out for Lyles, who was trailing behind, which eventually culminated in the viral moment.

Noah Lyles made an appearance at the Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica as a part of his outdoor season races as he geared up for the Paris Olympics. He competed in the 100m with some top athletes like Oblique Seville and Ferdinand Omanyala, among others. The American athletes exuded great confidence in the pre-race press conference and even claimed to register a personal best in the event.

However, the tables turned during the race as Jamaica's Oblique Seville, who is coached by legendary athlete Usain Bolt's mentor, put forward a dominating performance to clinch the gold medal after clocking 9.82s. The performance was his personal best as well as the world lead in the 100m at that time. Apart from the performance, one moment that went viral on social media from the race was Seville's stare-down at the finish line.

The Jamaican athlete spoke about the stare-down in his appearance in Season 2 of the Netflix documentary series 'Sprint' and said:

"After I come out of my drive phase, I realize that I'm still going, I'm still going and I didn't see Noah Lyles, so I looked across."

Lyles spoke about the incident in a post-race interview at the Racers Grand Prix and said:

" When I get beat, y'all better be scared as sh*t because next time you see me, you're going to be fu**ing worried."

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Noah Lyles' response to the viral stare-down at the Paris Olympics

Noah Lyles at the Paris 2024 - Athletics - Source: Getty

Noah Lyles' defeat at the hands of Oblique Seville took the Internet by storm and left fans discussing the viral stare-down moment on social media. After seeing all the discussions on social media, Lyles sent out a warning to Seville on X.

"Oh yah… I’ll remember this! See you in Paris @ObliqueSeville," he wrote.

The two athletes emulated a similar stare-down during the 100m semi-finals, which raised a lot of anticipation among fans for the finals. Once again, Seville dominated Noah Lyles in the semis with a performance of 9.81s to finish in the top position and the American clocked 9.83s to finish second and gain automatic qualifications for the finals.

Ultimately Lyles won the gold medal in the 100m finals at the Paris Olympics with a performance of 9.784s and Seville finished eighth after clocking 9.91s.