Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Athletics, Usain Bolt, Olympics
Marcus Chan
Noah Lyles gave a brilliant response when he was asked whether he could break Usain Bolt's world record.
Back in the summer, Lyles announced himself on the world stage as he clinched the gold medal in the 100m event during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
However, the American was left disappointed after he only won the Bronze in the 200m event.
Nevertheless, Lyles is expected to be the man to beat in men's sprinting in the near future.
The 27-year-old is more than confident that he has what it takes to break the Olympic legend Bolt's insane world record of 19.19 seconds that has now stood for almost 15 years.
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Speaking about the 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."
Lyles added: "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."
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Of the 10 fastest 200-metre times in the world since the Tokyo games three years ago, he has run seven of them.
"I'm going to motivate myself regardless," Lyles continued.
"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."
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Lyles' closest attempt at breaking Bolt's long standing record, set at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009, is 19.31 - a US record which he set in Eugene in 2022.