Noah Lyles

Noah Lyles (born July 18, 1997) is an American track and field sprinter who competes in various sprint race events. His personal best of 14.67 seconds in the 150 m reportedly set the world best, and his time of 19.31 seconds in the 200 m is the American record, and makes him the third fastest of all-time. He is an Olympic champion and eight-time World champion.

In the 100 m, Lyles won the gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games, is three-time world champion (4 × 100 m relay in 2019, 100 m and 4 × 100 m relay events in 2023), and was a 100 m and 4 × 100 m relay gold medalist at the 2016 World U20 Championships.

In the 200 m, Lyles is a four-time world champion (2019, 2022, 2023, 2025) and is the bronze medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games. He also won a gold medal in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

Lyles completed a sprint triple by winning gold medals in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4 × 100-meter events at the 2023 World Championships.

Early life Lyles was born on July 18, 1997, to Keisha Caine Bishop and Kevin Lyles, in Gainesville, Florida. His parents met as students at Seton Hall University, where they both competed in track and field. He has two siblings, Josephus and Abby. After their parents’ divorce, Lyles and his siblings relocated with their mother to Alexandria, Virginia.

Lyles was homeschooled during his early years while growing up with asthma, but was later able to attend public school.

Originally a gymnast, Lyles took up track and field at age 12. While watching the 2012 Summer Olympics on TV, he and his brother declared their intention to run together at the 2016 Summer Games. Lyles attended T. C. Williams High School (now Alexandria City High School).

Early career Lyles represented the United States at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games where he won a gold medal in the 200 m.

In January 2015, Lyles cleared in the high jump as a high school junior. In November 2015, he was named 2015 high school boys athlete of the year by Track & Field News.

In March 2016, Lyles won the 200 m at the New Balance Nationals Indoor. In April 2016, he won both the 100 m and 200 m at the 2016 Arcadia Invitational, setting new meeting records of 10.17 s and 20.48 s respectively. In June 2016, Lyles won the 100 m in 10.08 s at the USA Junior Championships.

In July 2016, Lyles went to the U.S. Olympic Trials to compete for spots on the Olympic team in the 100 m and the 200 m. He failed to advance from his first 100 m heat, but in the 200 m he won his semi-final and then placed fourth in the final with a time of 20.09 s, breaking a 31-year-old national high school record. Though he didn't qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics, he qualified for the 2016 World U20 Championships where he was a double gold medalist, taking the 100 m and relay titles.

Professional career Lyles had committed to compete for the Florida Gators at the University of Florida, but in July 2016, Noah and his younger brother Josephus instead turned professional and signed with Adidas. In November 2016, Lyles was again named high school boys athlete of the year for 2016 by Track & Field News.

Lyles started 2017 with his first senior national title in the 300 m at the 2017 USA Indoor Championships in the thin air of Albuquerque, New Mexico, improving the indoor world record by one hundredth of a second to 31.87 s. He earned a silver medal in the 4 × 200-meter relay with team USA at the 2017 World Relays. Lyles won two meets in the 2017 IAAF Diamond League circuit, winning the final ahead of American champion Ameer Webb and world champion Ramil Guliyev. However, injuries prevented him from competing much of the season and he missed the 2017 World Championships as a result.

2018

Lyles returned to Albuquerque to compete at the 2018 USA Indoor Championships, but in the 60-meter dash instead of the 300 m. He made it through his first heat while equaling his personal best time of 6.57 s, but failed to advance through his semi-final. Having failed to make the national team for the 2018 World Indoor Championships, he turned his focus to preparing for the outdoor season. He opened with a win in the 200 m at the IAAF Diamond League Doha meet, setting a new personal best with a time of 19.83 s. A few weeks later he ran the less common 150 m at the adidas Boston Games, winning in a personal best time of 14.77 s. He returned to the 200 m at the IAAF Diamond League in Eugene, winning and improving his personal best time to 19.69 s. This time matched the world leading time set by Clarence Munyai earlier that year.

At the 2018 USA Championships he focused on the 100 m instead, matching the world lead of 9.89 s in the semi-final. Mike Rodgers had set the world lead a day before in a separate heat, but he did not start in the semi-finals. This left Lyles' primary rival to be Ronnie Baker, who had run the 100 m in 9.78 s at the Prefontaine Classic earlier that year, but with a wind velocity just over the allowable limit for record purposes (+2.4 m/s). He became the youngest U.S. champion in the 100 m since Sam Graddy won in 1984.

Lyles world lead in the 100 m would later be beaten by Baker (9.87 s) and then Christian Coleman (9.79 s), but at the Herculis IAAF Diamond League meet in Monaco Lyles set a new 200 m world lead and personal best time in 19.65 s. The time placed him in the top-10 fastest men in the 200 m of all time. Before that Lyles equaled his personal best and world lead at the Athletissima IAAF Diamond League meet to win a greatly anticipated showdown against Michael Norman, who had set the indoor world record in the 400-meter dash earlier that year. Lyles went into the IAAF Diamond League final, the Weltklasse Zürich, as the favorite. He was again matched up against world champion Ramil Guliyev who recently also become European champion, setting a personal best of 19.76 s in the process. The two were placed in adjacent lanes and ran evenly through the bend, but Lyles started to pull away on the straight and finished in 19.67 s. It was his fourth time under 19.70 s in the same season. Only one other individual has been under 19.70 s four times in a career, world record holder Usain Bolt who also did it four times during his record-breaking 2009 season.

2019 In 2019, Lyles opened the season by running 100 meters races, running a 9.86 (+0.9) world leader in Shanghai on May 18. In his first 200-meter race, at the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala meet, he equalled Mennea's long standing 1979 world record time running a 19.72 (+0.7). A month later at Athletissima in Lausanne, he dropped his personal best to 19.50 (−0.1) to move into the number four position on the all-time list. A week later he ran a 9.92 (+0.3) 100 in Monaco. With the extended schedule in 2019, he ran the US National Championships at the end of July, taking the 200-meter title in 19.78 (−0.7) into a headwind in Des Moines. Then in Paris he ran 19.65 (+0.2).

Lyles won gold medals in the 200 m and the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar.

2022 to present On July 21, 2022, during the World Athletics Championships on home soil in Eugene, Oregon, Lyles claimed his second global title in the 200 m and surpassed Michael Johnson's long standing national record of 19.32 by running 19.31, which moved him to third on the world all-time list. Lyles went on to be part of the silver-winning team in the 4 × 100 m relay, where they were narrowly beaten by Canada. He capped his fine season in the Zürich Diamond League final with victory in 200 m, securing his fourth Diamond Trophy over the distance and fifth overall. Lyles was undefeated in his specialist event that year, breaking 20 seconds in all 12 of his races, including heats and finals.

At the 2023 World Athletics Championships held in Budapest, Lyles won the 100 m with a personal best of 9.83. Lyles went on to also win gold in the 200-meters with a time of 19.52 s. This was his third title in the 200 m and fifth overall in the World Athletics Championships. With his three 200 m world champion titles, he surpassed Michael Johnson (2) and Calvin Smith (2) and this moved him to second on the world all-time list for World Championship 200 m titles, only behind Usain Bolt with four titles.

On June 9, 2024, Lyles clocked 19.77 seconds for 200 m in New York City into a headwind of 1.6 m/s. As of 2026, this is the fastest time into such a strong headwind.

Lyles set a new 100 m personal best time of 9.81 s in winning at the London Diamond League on July 20, 2024. He won the 100 m at the 2024 Olympics with a new personal best of 9.784, giving a 0.005 second margin over Jamaica's Kishane Thompson (9.789). It was the first US victory in the event since 2004. The race was so close that Leigh Diffey calling the race for American NBC Sports prematurely declared Thompson the winner.

Lyles' next event was the 200 m, in which he got the bronze medal with a time of 19.70, behind Letsile Tebogo and Kenny Bednarek. Following the event, he collapsed on the track and was taken off in a wheelchair. It was later confirmed that Lyles had tested positive for COVID-19 two days prior, which "affected [his] performance". He later stated he would not run in the 4 × 100 m or 4 × 400 m relay races.

In November 2024, Lyles won an exhibition 50 meter race against content creator IShowSpeed for $100,000, which was later donated to charity. The race was organized and refereed by MrBeast.

Lyles started the 2025 season with a 400-meter race at the Tom Jones Memorial and ran 45.87 s. He then suffered a tendon injury, leading him to delay the start of his season until July. Coming back from injury, he won the 200 m at the Monaco Diamond League with a time of 19.88 s, beating Olympic champion Tebogo.

At the 2025 World Athletics Championships held in Tokyo, Lyles won the bronze medal in the 100 m with a time of 9.89 s. He rebounded in the 200 m to win his fourth consecutive title with a time of 19.52 s. He then proceeded to anchor the US 4 × 100 m relay team to victory with a time of 37.29 s.

On the 16th June 2026, at the Ostrava Golden Spike, Noah Lyles set a 150m curved track world best of 14.67, beating Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson's previous 14.92.

Personal life Lyles has posted on X that he has asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and depression.

He is also an anime fan, and has been seen carrying Yu-Gi-Oh! cards during competitions.

His wife is Jamaican track and field athlete Junelle Bromfield. In October 2024, Lyles and Bromfield got engaged. They were married on April 4, 2026.

Achievements

Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

150m- curved track

Ostrava, Czechia

International competitions

Circuit wins and titles

200 meters wins, other events specified in parentheses 2017 (2): Shanghai Diamond League (= ), Brussels Memorial Van Damme 2018 (5): Doha Diamond League ( PB), Eugene Prefontaine Classic (PB), Lausanne Athletissima (WL PB), Monaco Herculis (WL MR PB), Zürich Weltklasse 2019 (5): Shanghai (100 m, WL PB), Lausanne (WL MR PB), Paris Meeting (MR), Zürich (100 m), Brussels 2020 (1): Monaco (WL) 2021 (1): Eugene (WL MR) 2022 (4): Doha, Monaco (MR), Lausanne, Zürich (MR) 2023 (3): Paris (100 m), London (WL MR), Zürich 2024 (1): London (100 m) 2025 (2): Monaco, Zürich 2026 (1): Rome (100m)

National championships Year Competition Venue Position Event Time Wind (m/s) Notes 2013 U.S. World Youth Trials Edwardsville, Illinois 3rd 200 m 21.62 −3.9 2015 USATF U20 Championships Eugene, Oregon 1st 100 m 10.14 +2.0 1st 100 m 10.18 +1.8 2016 USATF U20 Championships Clovis, California 1st 100 m 10.08 +2.2 Wind-assistedU.S. Olympic Trials Eugene, Oregon 22nd 100 m 10.16 +1.8 4th 200 m 20.09 +1.6 2017 USATF Indoor Championships Albuquerque, New Mexico 1st 300 m 31.87 Altitude assisted, USATF Championships Sacramento, California 4th (heats) 200 m 20.54 −2.5 2018 USATF Indoor Championships Albuquerque, New Mexico 9th 60 m 6.59 Altitude-assisted USATF Championships Des Moines, Iowa 1st 100 m 9.88 +1.1 2019 USATF Championships Des Moines, Iowa 1st 200 m 19.78 −0.7 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Eugene, Oregon 7th 100 m 10.05 +0.8 1st 200 m 19.74 +0.3 2022 USATF Championships Eugene, Oregon 1st 200 m 19.67 −0.3 2023 USATF Championships Eugene, Oregon 3rd 100 m 10.00 +0.1 2024 USATF Championships Albuquerque, New Mexico 1st 60 m 6.43 Altitude-assisted, U.S. Olympic Trials Eugene, Oregon 1st 100 m 9.83 +0.4 1st 200 m 19.53 +0.5 2025 USATF Championships Eugene, Oregon 1st 200 m 19.63 +0.2

Season's bests w = wind-assisted (wind velocity more than +2.0 m/s)

+100 meters Year Time Wind (m/s) Venue World rank 2025 9.89 +0.3 Tokyo, Japan 2 2024 9.79 +1.0 Saint-Denis, France 1 2023 9.83 ±0.0 Budapest, Hungary 1 2022 9.95 +0.3 Berlin, Germany =15 2021 9.95 +1.9 Eugene, United States 102020 9.93 +4.0 Montverde, United States 10.04 +1.4 Clermont, United States 9 2019 9.86 +0.9 Shanghai, China 22018 9.88 +1.1 Des Moines, United States 3 9.86 +4.1 Gainesville, United States 2017 9.95 +4.3 Clermont, United States 2016 10.16 +1.8 Eugene, United States >100 10.08 +2.2 Clovis, United States 2015 10.14 +2.0 Eugene, United States 82 10.07 +4.3 Edmonton, Canada 2014 10.45 +1.0 Greensboro, United States >100 2013 10.86 −1.5 Newport News, United States >100 2012 11.27 −1.8 Newport News, United States >100 World rank from World Athletics' Season Top Lists.

+200 meters Year Time Wind (m/s) Venue World rank 2025 19.51 +1.0 Tokyo, Japan 1 2024 19.53 +0.5 Eugene, United States 5 2023 19.47 +1.6 London, England 1 2022 19.31 +0.4 Eugene, United States 1 2021 19.52 +1.5 Eugene, United States 3 2020 19.76 +0.7 Monaco 1 2019 19.50 −0.1 Lausanne, Switzerland 1 2018 19.65 +0.9 Monaco 1 2017 19.90 −0.4 Shanghai, China 42016 20.09 +1.6 Eugene, United States 17 20.04 +3.3 2015 20.18 +1.8 Eugene, United States 28 2014 20.71 −0.4 Nanjing, China >100 2013 21.28 −0.6 Donetsk, Ukraine >100 2012 21.82 +0.1 Baltimore, United States >100 World rank from World Athletics' Season Top Lists.

Honors and awards Night of Legends Award Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year: 2022, 2023

World Athletics Awards World Athlete of the Year (Men): 2023

Laureus World Sports Awards Sportsman of the Year: 2024 Nominee