Noah Lyles to Pocket Staggering Bonus if He Breaks Usain Bolt Record
Noah Lyles has been in the shadow of Usain Bolt for most of his career, and you can understand why.
Jamaican superstar Bolt came to define athletics after winning the 100m and 200m events at three consecutive Olympic Games between 2008 and 2016.
Bolt rose to stardom after winning his first titles in Beijing in 2008, and followed it up by doing the double at London 2012 and Rio 2016. That is not all, though.
The 39-year-old was also part of the Jamaican 4×100m relay team that came out on top in London and Rio, taking his gold medal tally to a remarkable eight.
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Perhaps most impressively of all the Manchester United fan still holds the world record in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4x100m relay.
He set the world record in the 100m at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin with a blistering time of 9.58 seconds.
Bolt also made history in the 200m at the same event, setting a world record of 19.19 seconds.
Three years later at London 2012, he joined forced with rivals Yohan Blake, Michael Frater, and Nesta Carter to set the 4x100m relay world record and secure his spot as perhaps the greatest athlete of all time.
However, Lyles is desperate to change all of that.
The American star stormed to victory at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, winning gold in the 100m.
Lyles also won bronze in the 200m in Paris to take his medal tally up to three.
His third Olympic medal was a bronze in the 200m in Tokyo four years earlier.
The 28-year-old will have extra incentive to break Bolt’s world record at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, which get underway on Saturday.
Any individual athlete who breaks a world record at the event will receive $100,000 (£73,853), as well as $70,000 (£56,697) for finishing first in their event.
Bolt has previously stated that he does not think any of the current crop of sprinters can break his world record - at least for the time being.
"I think the talent is there and those who are coming up will do well but, at this present moment, I don't think they will be able to break the world record,” he said earlier this week.
The Jamaican star has also told Lyles to put some respect on his name and his American rival suggested that he did not know who Bolt was.
"I remember when he [Lyles] just came out and he said, 'Usain Bolt who?', I was like, Bro, stop it,” he added.
"I normally don't say anything, but I was like, 'if you don't know who Usain Bolt is you're in the wrong sport.'
"So stop acting. Put some respect on my name. Every time he talks he says he wants to break my record, so stop it."
Topics: Athletics, Noah Lyles, Usain Bolt, Olympics
Jonathan Bray