American Sprinter Noah Lyles has grabbed the spotlight after clinching gold in the men's 100-meter event in the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics. The 27-year-old, dubbed as now the fastest man on the planet, left behind Jamaica's Kishane Thompson at Stade de France to register a record time of 9.784, 0.005 seconds earlier. Hence, it's worth exploring the youngster's background.
Born on July 18th, 1997, Lyles' inspiration to become a sprinter arose from watching the 2012 Olympics in London. His father is Kevin Lyles, also a former American sprinter. The 27-year-old represented the United States in the 2014 Youth Olympic games and clinched gold and won several events over the years.
Lyles missed out on Rio Olympics qualification in 2016, but was a double gold medalist in the World U20 Championships. It was in 2017 during the USA Indoor Track and field championships that Lyles won his first senior title in the 300m race. He also won gold in the 2019 World Athletics championships in the 200m and 4x100 m race in Qatar.
The American sprinter hit a low from a personal standpoint in 2021 as he described his mental health struggles ahead of the 2021 Olympic games in Tokyo. Lyles still won bronze in the 200m heat in that edition, but had the chance to win gold if he hadn't slowed down in the semi-final. The 2023 World Athletics in Budapest saw him win gold in 100m and 200m race.
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"I wanted to prove that I'm the man among all of them" - Noah Lyles
Meanwhile, after winning the gold in the 2024 Olympics, the 27-year-old declared himself as the wolf among wolves. As quoted by Reuters, he said:
"It's the one I wanted, it's the hard battle, it's the amazing opponents. Everybody came prepared for the fight and I wanted to prove that I'm the man among all of them, I'm the wolf among wolves."
