Racing Into History

Alexandria native Noah Lyles, left, stands on the rostrum with the U.S. Males’s 4×100 relay staff on the World Athletics Championships July 23 in Eugene, Ore. Earlier within the meet Lyles set a brand new world report within the males’s 200-meter race with a time of 19.31 seconds.

Picture by Joanne Caruso for the Gazette Packet

Competing for Staff USA on the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore., Lyles simply gained his race, main a sweep for American runners with Kenneth Bednarek and Erriyon Knighton taking second and third with instances of 19.77 and 19.80, respectively.

Lyles’ 200m time is now the third-fastest in historical past, behind solely Usain Bolt’s 19.19 in 2009 and a 19.26 run two years later by Jamaican Yohan Blake.

Johnson, who was on the occasion as a commentator for the BBC, went down on the sphere to congratulate Lyles, who wasn’t even born till a 12 months after Johnson’s run on the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

“When Michael congratulated me, I used to be shocked,” mentioned Lyles after the occasion. “Now we have chatted on Twitter however I’ve by no means interacted. I felt prefer it was one technology assembly one other technology.”

The record-breaking run was redemption for Lyles, who was anticipated to take gold ultimately summer time’s Tokyo Olympics however took bronze as a substitute. He credited the distinction to having his household and buddies in Eugene cheering him on.

Resulting from pandemic restrictions, Lyles’ mom and brother Josephus Lyles, who additionally represented Staff USA within the 100m relay on the championships, needed to watch the sprinter compete in Tokyo at a watch-party at Alexandria Metropolis Excessive Faculty.

Lyles went on to gather a silver medal as a part of Staff USA males’s 4x100m relay.

“Nothing unsuitable with a silver particularly if you give one hundred pc,” Lyles mentioned on Twitter. “I’m pleased with these guys and we are going to solely get higher with time.”

Simply days earlier, Lyles celebrated his twenty fifth birthday on July 18, saying on Twitter, “I made it to 25 years previous as we speak! A mark that for African People is a giant milestone. By this time in a Black man’s life we’re both put in jail for all times, killed in gang associated occasions, or killed only for the colour of our pores and skin. So after I say glad I made it to 25 I imply it!”

Lyles’ run places him solely behind Bolt within the variety of sub-20.00 clockings in 200m historical past. Bolt leads with 34 instances adopted by Lyles with 29. Johnson is fourth with 23 and Carl Lewis in ninth place with 10.