Noah Lyles: ‘The future of sprinting is hazy right now. Nobody knows which direction to go in†| World Athletics Championships

Sprint king Noah Lyles sits smiling and calm after the storm that returned him to the throne in Tokyo, reflective even. He has expressed a desire, having now won four successive 200m world titles, to surpass Usain Boltâ€s record with a fifth at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing in 2027.

But the Americanâ€s mind has wandered even further. “I have a strong blueprint of what I want my last year in the sport to look like,†he says. “Iâ€ve looked pretty far into the future.â€

Lyles rules out a tilt for the 2032 Games in Brisbane, when he will be 35, making Los Angeles in 2028 his Olympic swansong. The plan is for a final year “somewhere in between 2028 and 2032â€, racing at three meets in countries heâ€s never been to, “so that I can touch a lot of bucket list thingsâ€.

There will also be a few competitions “close to home†and then one final flourish. “The last race would be at my own track meet, where Iâ€d be able to do any and everything that I want.â€

He laughs at this thought, a glimpse at the glee Lyles exudes when he is in world-beating form. Itâ€s a contrast from his presence in Japan for the Olympics four years ago, when he was managing depression and finished third in the 200m behind winner Canadian Andre De Grasse.

In a celebratory mood in downtown Tokyo, Lyles takes a question about his advancing years in good humour. “Uh oh, Iâ€m getting up there arenâ€t I,†the 28-year-old says, chuckling again. “Last year in Paris was the halfway mark for me, literally turning 26 to 27 in Paris, I was like, ‘OK, Iâ€m on the other half of the hillâ€.â€

He says he thinks about his age regularly, in order to make the most of his time in the sport. “If I really push everything I want out of every year and month and week and day that I have, I donâ€t think Iâ€ll ever regret any of the years.â€

Lyles blitzed the field to win the menâ€s 200m final in Tokyo. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images

This sustained commitment is just about holding the next generation at bay. In the 200m final in Tokyo, Lyles was the second oldest behind only Britainâ€s Zharnel Hughes. The pair are now outliers increasingly swamped by youth.

Twenty-four-year-old Oblique Seville rumbled to 100m gold in Tokyo, and his countryman Kishane Thompson is the same age. Another Jamaican, Bryan Levell, won bronze behind Lyles at 21, and Letsile Tebogo, the 200m Olympic champion, is still just 22.

Then there are those next in line, including Gout Gout. Lyles knows the Australian better than most, having been connected through the Adidas stable, and the American has not been shy about sharing his opinion of the 17-year-old, the youngest to compete in the 200m in Tokyo, but unable to progress past the semi-finals.

Whether the teenager lives up to his potential, the man with eight world championship golds says, is up to him. “Heâ€s obviously so young, very talented, but thereâ€s so many people who have been talented in our sport that unfortunately havenâ€t been able to hit that upper echelon,†Lyles says. “Itâ€s more about, whatâ€s the path heâ€s going to take, whoâ€s the team that heâ€s going to take with him, and how much work are you going to put into not just being athletic, but knowing that youâ€ve got to be a businessperson and youâ€ve got to be it young.â€

Despite Goutâ€s burgeoning profile, his pre-meet exposure for Tokyo was restricted to one media opportunity. The Australian was generous with his time following his elimination, but his light international schedule this year and a patient approach by his coach Di Sheppard and manager James Templeton – as well as Goutâ€s commitment to his final high school exams next month – has frustrated an athletics community hungry for more of the Brisbane teenager.

“Thatâ€s the hardest part about being such a young talent, you have to grow up so much faster than everybody else,†Lyles says. “When people get to come to you and theyâ€re like, ‘hey, we need this of youâ€, unfortunately you donâ€t get to say ‘Iâ€m only a teenagerâ€. Because once you sign the contract, once youâ€re on the track, youâ€re no longer a teenager, youâ€re now a businessman.â€

skip past newsletter promotion

The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekendâ€s action

Privacy Notice:Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

after newsletter promotion

Lyles has been cautious with his praise of young Australian Gout Gout. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

That side of the sport comes naturally to Lyles, one of athletics†most powerful marketing forces. He says he does not have to balance his true self with the showman fans recognise, because those personas are one and the same. “Thatâ€s why I have a lot of people who do – and donâ€t – like me,†he says, that laugh erupting again.

But he is serious when talking about what comes next for the sport. “The future of sprinting is hazy right now. There is so much talent, there is so much room for growth and there are so many new personalities coming up, but I feel the way that the sport is right now, nobody knows which direction to go in.â€

He says it is not just about who will emerge as the next great performers on the track, and that the uncertainty extends to “everything involving athleticsâ€. World Athletics has scheduled a new event next year, the Ultimate Championship, to make up for the absence of a global major in 2026, but Lyles has yet to commit to racing there. The Netflix series Sprint, featuring Lyles and other top sprinters, found an audience but it has not replicated Formula Oneâ€s success in cultivating mass appeal through Drive to Survive. There were also high hopes for Michael Johnsonâ€s Grand Slam Track, until it fell into financial ruin.

Lyles, a long-time cheerleader for the sport, says a fear of backlash among athletes and a sometimes-poisonous fan culture is holding the sport back. “Somebody was asking me to give some advice to Letsile [Tebogo] and I was like, ‘to be honest, youâ€ve just got to be yourselfâ€,†he says.

“We want to come out here and be showmen and give our greatest performances, but we also want to be ourselves, and I think that sometimes weâ€re not allowed to be ourselves out of fear of how people will perceive us, knowing that this is just a sport. Itâ€s just a sport, guys, nobodyâ€s dying at the end of the day. Letâ€s enjoy these moments as much as possible.â€

Source link