Michael Johnson Named the Only Sprinter Who Can Beat Usain Bolt's 200m World Record

Michael Johnson has picked out the only sprinter he feels can beat Usain Bolt’s 200m world record.

Bolt ran a 19.19-second 200m in 2009 and it’s a record that has stood for almost two decades.

Back in 2019, legendary sprinter Johnson picked out the only sprinter who feels can get close to breaking that time.

Noah Lyles won gold in the men’s 200m race at the Doha World Championship six years ago, having run a 19.83-second race, a result that marked the beginning of a quartet of consecutive 200m gold medals, capped with his gold medal in Tokyo at the 2025 World Championships.

Johnson shows where Lyles can improve

Johnson outlined where Lyles could improve to break Bolt’s 2009 record, with the American showing how he established his lead on the bend, whereas the Jamaican legend did so on the straight to gain an advantage over competitors.

And Lyles has previously spoken about catching Bolt’s 200m record but Johnson questioned where the advantage would come from to run sub-19.19.

“He’s going to have to work really hard with his coach to try to find where that’s going to be because his advantage is that he’s very, very smooth,” Johnson said in 2019.

“You can only get so ‘smooth’. He’s gotta find a lot of tenths of seconds.”

Noah Lyles won gold in the men's 200m final in Tokyo. (Image: Getty Images)

Johnson was quick to praise Lyles after his comments on his compatriot, adding: “Taking nothing away from him as an athlete, he is amazing, he’s a fantastic talent.”

Since then, the closest Lyles has come to matching Bolt’s record was when he ran a 19.31-second race in 2022, which is an American record, and means the 28-year-old is the third-fastest of all time.

Lyles equalled Bolt's World Championship record

One record that Lyles has since matched, however, came in Tokyo on Friday afternoon as the American ran another gold medal race at the World Championships.

Lyles managed to hold off both Kenny Bednarek and Bryan Levell to win gold in Tokyo, matching Bolt’s record of four world championship gold medals as he ran a 19.52-second race in the men’s 200m final.

It makes up for his bronze finish in the men’s 100m final, which was won by Jamaican sprinter Oblique Seville, with compatriot Kishane Thompson coming in second.

The Tokyo World Championship started last weekend and runs until Sunday, with the United States leading the medal table at the time of writing.