Noah Lyles backed to spearhead sprinting back into Usain Bolt-era of global fame

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said that the American sprinter has the ability to transcend athletics

Noah Lyles has been backed to spearhead sprinting back into a Usain Bolt-era of global fame after taking a further major step towards emulating the Jamaican’s Olympic sprint doubles.
Less than 24 hours after being crowned the fastest man in the world, Lyles was back on the Stade de France track to ease into the semi-finals of the men’s 200m, where he thinks he can challenge Bolt’s 15-year world record.
Lyles beat defending Olympic champion Andre de Grasse in his heat but it was only his American team-mates Erriyon Knighton and Kenneth Bednarek who dipped under 20 seconds ahead of the semi-finals on Wednesday’s and then Thursday’s big final.
Zharnel Hughes had earlier pulled out with a tight hamstring, leaving no Britons in the event, and Lyles revealed that he had been brought back down to earth following his 100m win with a 2am detour to the Olympic Village to collect his girlfriend’s spikes. He has been staying just outside the main athletes’ village in an Airbnb with the Jamaican sprinter Junelle Bromfield.
“She called me when I was heading to the village: ‘Can you pick up my spike bag?’” he said. “I was, ‘Yeah I got you.’ 2am. Spike bag, my bag, some toiletries, ‘Here I am, Olympic champion’, waddling into my girlfriend’s room.”
He said that there had been no celebrations beyond watching a few videos, including his dramatic win by 0.005sec time and time again to confirm that he really had come from last at 30m to win.
Lyles is also the star of the Netflix Sprint documentary and Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, believes that his victory will become a hugely significant moment for the sport. “If I’m wearing a promoter’s hat, then him winning last night was important, because he’s now creating a narrative that is heading us back into Usain Bolt territory and that is hugely important,” said Coe.
“It’s a recognisable face. It’s a face that has now got young people talking about athletics. Friends of mine who’ve got young kids, they’re now talking about Noah Lyles in the same breath as some of the highest profile sportsmen and women in the world. He is beginning to transcend the sport, which is really what we want them all to do.”
As an athlete, Coe also particularly admired how Lyles delivered on the biggest stage after being beaten in the heat by Britain’s Louie Hinchliffe and in the semi-final by Jamaica’s Oblique Seville. “Like all great individuals in sport and great teams, when it really matters they tend to find a way of winning,” he said. “He was never ahead in that race until the last frame of that photo finish. It was his kingdom – I saw a completely different Noah on the line in the final. I thought he looked slightly tentative in the first round, but he grew in stature.
“Your performance is your passport but promotion is everything. It’s not enough to be just another Olympic champion or another world champion – he wants to fill a stadium, he also wants to fill a press conference. And actually what he has to say is profoundly important for the sport.”
Coe also said that he had no issues with deciding a gold medal by just 0.005sec; a margin of victory that would once have been impossible to measure. “If you have the technology, you have to use it,” he said. “If somebody’s saying it’s a couple of thousandths, so be it. You speak to my kids or younger, they’re not fazed by the fact that somebody got across the line two thousandths of a second. They think it’s rather cool, actually.”