At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Lyles won a bronze medal in the 200 m. He is a six-time World champion, including the 200 m and 4 × 100 m in 2019, the 200 m in 2022, and the 100 m, 200 m, and 4 × 100 m events in 2023, becoming the first man to complete the sprint treble at a World Championships since Usain Bolt in 2015.
In January 2015, Lyles cleared 2.03 m (6 ft 7+3⁄4 in) 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.[14][15] In June 2016, Lyles won the 100 m in 10.08 s at the USA Junior Championships.[16]
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.[17][18][19] 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 4 × 100 m relay titles.[20][21]
Professional
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.[4][22] In November 2016, Lyles was again named high school boys athlete of the year for 2016 by Track & Field News.
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.[25] 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.[26][27]
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).[26] In the final Baker got out a few meters ahead of Lyles out of the blocks, but Lyles started to come back halfway through the race and just passed Baker in the last meter to win in 9.88 s, a new world lead and personal best time for Lyles.[28][29] He became the youngest U.S. champion in the 100 m since Sam Graddy won in 1984.[30]
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.[31][32] 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.[27][33][34] 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.[35] 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.[36] 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.[37]
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.[38] 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).
Noah Lyles (R) en route to the 200 m victory at Doha 2019.
Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics were postponed to 2021, and nearly all track competitions were canceled. Lyles managed to compete at a scant few competitions, including one in which he apparently broke the 200m world record in 18.90 seconds before it was later found that he accidentally started 15 metres ahead. Both the pandemic and the ongoing George Floyd protests took a heavy toll on Lyles, as he became reliant on depression medication that caused him to lose weight.
With competition returning in 2021, Lyles refocused on the postponed Tokyo Olympics, intending to win the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay triple. However, his season was marked by injuries and continued mental health struggles from the pandemic. Lyles claimed he was three weeks behind on training by the time the Olympic Trials came around. There, he finished 7th in the 100m and lost his 200m heat and semi-final to rising teenager Erriyon Knighton. However, Lyles managed to win the final in a world-leading time of 19.74 seconds, putting him back in as a favorite for the Olympic title.
At the Olympics, Lyles overconfidently slowed down in his semi-final, allowing Aaron Brown and Joseph Fahnbulleh to pass him. Lyles managed to get through as a fastest loser, and despite leading off the turn in the final, he was forced to settle for bronze as Andre De Grasse and Bednarek passed him. Following the race, Lyles opened up about his mental health struggles leading up to the games in interviews.
2 weeks after his disappointing Olympic performance, Lyles won the Prefontaine Classic in a world-leading 19.52 seconds before ending his season to focus on the upcoming world championships.
2022
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.[40] 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.[41]
On August 20, 2023, during the World Athletics Championships held in Budapest Lyles won gold in the 100m and setting a personal best in the final of 9.83.
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