Noah Lyles: US 4×100 squad “might break the world record” this year

By Jonathan Gault
July 14, 2022

EUGENE, Ore. — In recent times, the boys’s 4×100 relay has principally been a supply of embarrassment for Staff USA. Beginning with the 2008 Olympics, the People have didn’t medal in seven of the ten international championships (they claimed gold in 2019 and silver in 2013 and 2017). If final yr’s Olympics didn’t mark a brand new low, it at the very least marked a brand new manner for Staff USA to fail: the boys acquired the baton round within the prelims however solely completed sixth of their warmth and didn’t make the ultimate regardless of boasting three of the world’s 4 quickest males in 2021.

Staff USA relay members Fred Kerley, Josephus Lyles, and Noah Lyles

One of many causes cited for that outcome was an absence of observe: key members Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker — whose second trade helped doom the People — solely ran two practices earlier than the meet. Noah Lyles, who would possible have subbed in for the ultimate, didn’t observe with the group in any respect.

Extra: LRC What Really Happened with the US Men’s 4×100 Team in Tokyo? And What Can Be Done to Fix it?

In 2022, the US has a brand new males’s relay coach (Mike Marsh, who took over for Orin Richburg) and new observe habits.  Lyles was one of many featured visitors at at present’s Staff USA press convention and he stated that the crew’s relay camp final week lasted three or 4 days and that handoffs had been good.

“Far more observe than another yr, I’d say,” Lyles stated. “I believe we’re all comfy with one another.”

“We simply gotta get the stick round and as soon as we do this, it’s showtime,” Kerley stated.

In fact, “simply getting the stick round” has been an issue for greater than a decade now. However Lyles isn’t dwelling on previous failures. When he final ran the 4×100 for Staff USA, he anchored the squad to gold in American report vogue on the 2019 Worlds in Doha. That crew ran 37.10; Jamaica’s world report from the 2012 Olympics is 36.84.

“I’ve been saying this for years: once I’m on the relay, we ain’t dropping,” Lyles stated. “Level clean. And we’d break the world report, simply saying.”

Huge speak. The proof, as typical, will come on the monitor.

Focus on: “Noah Lyles: “I’ve been saying this for years: when I’m on the relay, we ain’t losing… we might break the world record”