Olympic champion Noah Lyles had to set the record straight after NFL star Xavier Worthy outpaced Usain Bolt’s 40-yard dash time.
During the NFL combine, the now Kansas City Chief wide receiver ran an electric 4.21 seconds, surpassing Bolt’s known best of 4.22 seconds.
Xavier Worthy’s blistering pace was on show at the NFL CombineGetty
Fellow American football speedster Tyreek Hill clocked a time of 4.29 and has a 100m personal best of 10.19 – not quite the sub-nine seconds of a world-class sprinter, but very close.
That begs the question, what would Worthy’s 100m time be?
However, Lyles came to the defence of his fellow sprinter on X.
The divisive American athlete posted: “Do we have to show the video of him running that time with jeans, no cleats, and no warming up? Just to remind y’all.”
Lyles was referring to the scene of Bolt’s 40-yard dash attempt – the Jamaican icon rocked up to an event ahead of Super Bowl LIII in 2019, was asked to perform the race on an artificial turf track and blitzed it, all while wearing sweatpants and sneakers.
Not quite denim jeans as Lyles said, but you get his point – he was not warmed up, in prime sprinting conditions or wearing the right gear, and still lived up to his name.
But it didn’t end there.
On the ‘Up and Adams Show’ hosted by sportscaster Kay Adams, Hill criticised Lyles for his bronze medal-winning 200m performance at Paris 2024, a race the 27-year-old ran with Covid-19, challenging the 100m champion to race him and put their smack talk to bed.
“Noah Lyles can’t say nothing after what just happened to him,” said the Miami Dolphins wide receiver.
“He wants to come out and pretend that he’s sick… just speak to what you know about, and that’s track.
Noah Lyles ‘in talks’ to race NFL star Tyreek Hill and finally settle ‘who’s the fastest’ debateAP/Getty
“I would beat Noah Lyles. When I beat him, I’ll put on a COVID mask and let him know I mean business.”
In response Lyles said, unfazed: “What’s that guy? What’s the cheetah guy from football? I can’t remember his name.”
A potential one-on-one race has been somewhat welcomed by both parties – particularly after seeing a similar race between Paris 2024 pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis and a 400m hurdler – but no significant progress has been made.
Not only was Lyles in a feud with American football players, but also basketball stars.
In a press conference he said: “The thing that hurts me the most is I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have world champion on they head. World champion of what? The United States?”
Basketball stars went into uproar.
Kevin Durant in response posted on Instagram, “somebody help this brother”, while his Phoenix Suns teammate Devin Booker commented facepalm emojis.
Kevin Durant with his Olympic Gold Medal following Lyles’ 100m first placeGetty
The NBA only features teams in the USA and Canada but it does feature the best players in the world, even whose from Europe such as three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic.
Antetokounmpo later did come to the support of Lyles, saying: “I wanted to back him up so bad, you know. He received so much backlash for saying the, like, obvious.”
He was also backed up by running countrywoman Sha’Carri Richardson.
“I’m standing with Noah on this one,” said the sprinter, who won silver in the 100m and gold in the 4x100m relay with USA at Paris 2024.
Lyles became an Olympic 100m gold medallist in Paris, and later won bronze in the 200mAFP
“The organization [NBA] have players from different countries but do they compete against different countries? You have to go against the world in order to be a world champion.”
With the Olympian now being engaged to fellow sprinter Junelle Bromfield, as well as starring in the hugely-popular ‘Sprint’ Netflix documentary, it’s doubtful he’s concerned by what American football and basketball players think of him.
Let alone anyone else.
