Less is more as Noah Lyles targets Olympic 200m gold

Noah Lyles might have deserted formidable plans for an Olympic dash double, however the charismatic US star believes much less could be extra as he targets 200m gold in Tokyo.

After a blinding efficiency on the World Championships in Doha two years in the past, the place he stormed to victory within the 200m, Lyles declared he was planning to take a crack on the 100m-200m double in Japan.

That daring dream ended abruptly finally month’s US Olympic trials in Eugene, the place Lyles by no means appeared snug by way of the opening rounds of the 100m earlier than trailing in a distant seventh within the last.

However he appeared extra like his outdated self every week later within the 200m last, the place he surged to victory in a world-leading 19.74sec to see off the problem of Kenny Bednarek and teenager Erriyon Knighton.

Lyles says rediscovering a way of “enjoyable” held the important thing to his return to kind after a tumultuous yr that noticed him open up about his therapy for despair as America confronted a racial reckoning following the dying of George Floyd.

“I went on the market and I had enjoyable,” Lyles mentioned. “One other factor I’ve been struggling to have this yr was some enjoyable on the monitor. I do know I’ve mentioned loads, ‘The day I cease having enjoyable is the day I depart.’

“And I used to be not having enjoyable this yr, and I didn’t wish to depart. I used to be like, ‘I do know this may be enjoyable. I simply need to bide my time.’ Going on the market, it was enjoyable once more.”

With the 100m off the agenda in Tokyo, Lyles is free to focus on the race that has at all times been his strongest swimsuit.

After cruising by way of the opening rounds of the 200m on the trials final month, his sense of aid was palpable.

Melancholy battle

“It at all times feels pure after I come again to the 200,” he mentioned. “I don’t need to stress too onerous. I don’t have to consider an excessive amount of.

“I don’t even have to fret about if I get an excellent begin or not, as a result of I do know, regardless of the scenario is, I can at all times come again in my flip after which slingshot off, be sturdy in my end. It’s actually a snug feeling.”

Lyles made headlines final yr when he revealed on social media he had been receiving therapy for despair, one thing which deepened through the anxious months of the Covid-19 pandemic and the occasions following Floyd’s dying in Could.

In August, Lyles mentioned he had been utilizing antidepressant remedy, describing it as “the most effective selections I’ve made shortly.”

“Since then I’ve been capable of suppose with out the darkish undertone in thoughts of nothing issues,” he mentioned in a submit on Twitter.

“It bought to the purpose the place I used to be simply so deep, deep within myself that I used to be simply placing on a face and doing what I wanted to do,” Lyles mentioned of his psychological well being struggles.

“My household got here down for Christmas and my mum was actually beginning to fear about me. In order that’s after I began ringing my private therapist frequently, and it was going nicely for a time however as soon as coronavirus hit and the Black Lives Matter motion began taking place, it created the right storm.”

Lyles in the meantime has embraced the upsurge in athlete activism that grew to become a part of final yr’s Black Lives Matter protests.

In August, Lyles wore a black glove and raised his fist in defiance along with his head bowed earlier than a race in Monaco, a reference to the long-lasting gesture made by 1968 Olympic 200m gold and bronze medallists Tommie Smith and John Carlos.

He repeated the gesture earlier than the 100m last on the US trials, and says it’s one thing he’ll proceed to do.

“We’re nonetheless dying within the streets,” Lyles mentioned. “Simply because we stopped speaking about it within the information or simply as a result of the Olympics are happening, doesn’t imply it’s not taking place. I’m Black.”