Noah Lyles smashed a record that lasted for 28 years ahead of the Paris Olympics.
The six-time world champion won the 100 and 200-meter sprint events at the US Olympic trials.
Lyles was in top form heading into Paris 2024
Lyles is the current US record holder in the 200 with a blistering 19.31-second run at the World Championships in Oregon in 2022.
The 27-year-old is some way short of matching Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt‘s outlandish 19.19-second mark from 2009.
But when he stepped onto the track ahead of the trip to France this summer, it was another sprinting icon in his sights.
Michael Johnson‘s time of 19.66 seconds had not been surpassed in Olympic trials since 1996.
Lyles broke the mark TWICE – first carding 19.6 seconds in the semi-finals before strong winds invalidated the time.
The best was yet to come as the speedster clocked 19.53 seconds in the final – finishing 0.6 seconds ahead of Kenny Bednarek.
“It showed me that people were willing to get up,” Lyles said.
“Sometimes you feel that you’ll walk into a room and people are just scared to get up for it when it comes to 200.
“Seeing Kenny, seeing Christian, seeing Erriyon (Knighton), even seeing Kyree (Coleman) — I love this.
“People said, ‘Nah, I’m not going to back down because he’s fast. I’m gonna get up because he’s fast.’
Johnson dominated sprinting in the 1990s
Lyles tasted Olympic gold in Paris
“That’s the energy I love to see and those are the races that I want to keep having.”
Johnson went on to break the world record and take 200m gold on home soil at Atlanta 1996.
Lyles’ Games began well in Paris as he recovered from a slow start to win a thrilling 100m.
“I’ll be winning,” he brashly claimed before the 200m final.
“None of them is winning. When I come off the turn, they will be depressed.”
Lyles ran 19.7 seconds in the final to take bronze behind Bednarek and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo.
He collapsed to the track soon after in what his mom Keisha Caine Bishop later called the ‘scariest moments of my life.’
Lyles suffered after contracting COVID in ParisGetty
Lyles later confirmed that he had tested positive for COVID before the race, and coach Lance Brauman told The Associated Press Lyles had a temperature of 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 Celsius) when he picked up his medal.
Lyles will hope to star when the Games come to LA in four years, when the triple gold medal target of 100m, 200m and 4x100m will be on his radar.
Before then, he has a score to settle with NFL sensation and former track star Tyreek Hill – Lyles has admitted he would be prepared to race the Miami Dolphins receiver, but on his own terms.
