A US sprinter who ran quicker than Noah Lyles' best high school time over 100 metres has already set three national records.
2007-born Tate Taylor, who was born in San Antonio, Texas, has been making major waves across the junior ranks since the beginning of 2025.
In March 2025, he ran a staggering time of 9.92 seconds over 100m - a time only bettered by Botswana's Letsile Tebogo in the same U20 age group. He is now the all-time American U20 record holder.
With Tebogo the reigning 200m Olympic champion from Paris 2024, and the holder of Botswana's 100m national record of 9.82, it becomes clear as to what sort of talent and potential Taylor has.
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Taylor's time is the fastest ever run by an U18 sprinter, though World Athletics does not usually recognise U18 records as high school meets generally do not meet their official requirements.
The same month, Taylor clocked 20.46 for the 200 metres, setting a US high school indoor record in the process.
And he ran a time of 32.45 at the 2026 VA Showcase event - 0.19 seconds than the previous indoor national record over 300 metres.
Jake Odey-Jordan, who placed second in the same race, matched the previous mark in the process.
Notably, Noah Lyles ran a time of 32.60 at a separate meet over 300 metres earlier in the month, though was running under different conditions and it was his first race of the new season.
During his time in high school, Lyles ran a 20.09 over 200 metres - which still remains a national record across the USA - though only ran 10.09 across 100 metres.
The 28-year-old, who won Olympic gold over 100m at Paris 2024, wrote to Taylor on Twitter to congratulate him on his indoor 200m record in March 2025.
"Records are made to be broken and he took that to heart," Lyles said.
"This is a crazy impressive time and win! Congratulations."
When asked by USA Track & Field about which one of the 100m, 200m and 300m records was his favourite to set, Taylor replied: "Definitely 200, man. I love the 200.
"It's such a technical race but at the same time, yes, you have to run fast, but you have to run it smart.
"I like that aspect between race modelling and being able to change a lot more than you would in the 100."
His coach, Kevin Shexnayder, said: "I saw him before he was on our team. He was running at a 100 that he lost... he got fried.
"But just seeing him, with his build, his length and fast twitch ability, it was a weird combination that you don't normally see.
"Just talking to him and seeing how he was moving, you could tell there was a lot of raw talent. There were a lot of edges that could be sharpened.
"Once we got him in, and got him locked into the system, he didn't look back. Records started dropping the year after that. God has been good to us."
Topics: Noah Lyles, Athletics
Ryan Smart