Christian Coleman won the 60-meter dash by a mile at the Millrose Games on Saturday, running 6.47 for a world lead and an Armory facility record.
Coleman wasn’t phased by the multiple false starts before the race — one of which was committed by 200m champion Noah Lyles, who was later disqualified.
“I really wasn’t thinking too much,” Coleman said. “Just staying between the white lines and focus on the cues I had to execute coming out of the blocks.”
The 60m world record holder rebounded from a 2-year ban for missing a doping test by qualifying for the world championships last year and said he’s taking it one race at a time after a “shift in mentality.”
“I’m just in a different space mentally and emotionally,” Coleman said. “There’s not as much pressure. I’m just having fun.”
Off the track, Coleman told FanHub he’s a “novice professional bowler” and is good at curving a bowling ball. “I usually like a nine to ten-pound ball so I can get some real good control on it,” he said.
Lyles ran the race under protest, finishing in second in 6.53 before being disqualified, stating after “my feet never left the mat.”
“If I get the race in that’s all that matters, not if I win, if I lose,” he said.
Lyles was “very excited” with how he started his first 20m before heading into the indoor U.S. Championships in Albuquerque next week, saying he replicated what he did last week when he beat Travyon Bromell — who rebounded with a 6.42 60m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver in South Carolina this weekend.
“I just put a fire under his belly, he just did the work,” Lyles said. “That’s exactly what the sport’s about.”
He also joked about his reaction time, which he’s been outspoken about working on this year, saying “it’s not like Devon Allen’s.”
“I’m just playing around here. I’m not a 60m runner,” Lyles said.
