Noah Lyles had an historic and dominant season, and that’s putting it lightly.
Lyles ran sub 20 seconds in every 200m race that he ran this season. He also won every 200m race that he ran this past season.
Oh yeah, he also took down Michael Johnson’s American record with his 19.31 at the World Championships in Oregon this summer, where he won the title in the event.
Oddly enough, the American record wasn’t the only record that Lyles was aiming for. He told Maria Taylor of NBC Sports in an interview for the new show, “Chasing Gold: Paris 2024,” that he wanted to take down Usain Bolt’s world record time of 19.19.
“I was planning to run 19.10,” he said. “That’s what me and my therapist had in our hearts. I was very much on the idea of I want to give myself a goal to chase that’s so out there. Even if I don’t get to that goal, I’ll have obliterated whatever is behind me.”
Towards the end of the interview, Michael Johnson, the American record holder in the 400m, and former world record holder in the 200m and 400m, stopped by the show to give his thoughts on Lyle’s performance in Eugene, as well as offer some advice to Lyles.
“My advice to Noah is to keep doing what you’re doing,” Johnson said. “What’s most impressive about Noah is the transition from last year to this year..I thought the way that you were able to bounce back from (the 2020 Olympic games), admit that wasn’t the race that I want and the medal that I wanted, but able to come back this year and put it all together and get almost everything that you wanted and put it together on soil in Eugene was amazing.”
The show is now available on Peacock.
