In the final Diamond League competition before the Olympics, American sprinter Noah Lyles ran a personal best to earn the victory in the 100 meters, demonstrating once again that he can back up his words of fighting on the track.
Lyles, also known as Nojo, is the star of the Netflix series Sprint, which follows the best candidates for Olympic medals in Paris. He is well-known for his exuberance and love of music and fashion.
Regarding his chances of winning an Olympic medal, Lyles declared on Saturday, “I’m going to win, it’s what I always do, I’m getting faster every week.”
His famous come-from-behind victory in a personal best time of 9.81 seconds—a two hundredth of a second improvement—wowed the London audience.
As a result, he is now third in the world this year, after Jamaican Kishane Thompson (9.77) and Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala (9.79).
On Thursday, Lyles celebrated his 27th birthday with a spectacular effort that saw him surpass Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who had taken the lead early on but finally had to settle for third place, even though he had matched his personal best and the national record of 9.88.
Despite Lyles’s admission that he should have started better, his new personal best, set a month ago in Oregon, demonstrated the effectiveness of his training. He ran 9.83 to win the US trials.
At the Budapest World Championships last year, Lyles—who made his name in the 200 meters—became the first person since Usain Bolt to win three gold medals in a single competition.
He is shown in the Netflix series as the “heir to the throne” of the Jamaican sprint king, Bolt, and he is aiming to break his world record of 9.58 seconds, which appears unattainable for this Olympics at least.
He is also a rapper and artist who collaborated with Swiss pop group Baba Shrimps and American pole vaulter Sandi Morris on a song in 2019.
While Lyles is only focused on winning the gold, South Africa’s Akani Simbine, who finished second on Saturday with a season-best score of 9.86, would be happy to take home any medal.
The 30-year-old has only placed first or second in five Olympic or world finals; his only podium finishes in individual events have come from the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the African championships.
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