Olympic gold medallist Noah Lyles didn't hesistate when asked if he could ever break Usain Bolt's 100m world record.
Nearly 17 years ago, sporting icon Bolt made history as claimed the world record time in a 100 metre sprint with a lighting-fast time of 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York.
But he wasn't done there, as he broke his own record another two times during his career, once at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a time of 9.69 and again in the 100m final and the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, setting the current world record time of 9.58.
Few men have even come close to dethroning Bolt since his iconic sprint in Berlin, but current Olympic champion Lyles believes he could be the man to do it.
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During the Paris Olympics last summer, the American sprinter took hme the title of the fastest man alive after winning the men's Olympic gold medal in the 100m event, despite suffering from Covid.
Lyles was expected to double his gold tally in Paris at the 200m event, however, he came up short finishing third behind Letsile Tebogo and Kenny Bednarek.
Regardless, he has always been absolutely adamant that he will someday break Bolt's record, and he's explained why.
Speaking about the 100m world record in 2023, Lyles said: "I know that I'm going to break it.
"The second most-popular, favourite hobby of humans − after watching somebody achieve greatness − is watching them fail.
"People love to watch people fail. They just do. I don't know why.
"It's just if somebody says they want to do something great, someone's right there next to say they can't do it.
"I can give zero cares about what other people think.
"Because they don't know me, they don't know my story, they don't know what I do, they don't know how hard I work, how talented I am. But I know."
Lyles' closest attempt at breaking Bolt's long standing record, is 19.31 - a US record which he set in Eugene in 2022.
"I'm going to motivate myself regardless," Lyles added.
"I'm going to win regardless.
"I didn't need a rival at worlds to run 19.3, because there was nobody close to me when that happened."
Topics: Noah Lyles, Usain Bolt, Athletics, Olympics
Ben McCrum