Usain Bolt vs Noah Lyles 3D simulation shows how 200m race would look

A 3D simulation shows exactly how Noah Lyles would fare against eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt in a 200m race.

Lyles, 28, is the current 100m Olympic champion, having secured gold at the 2024 Paris Games. However, this season things have not gone as well as the American would have liked.

Throughout the 2025 campaign, the 28-year-old has struggled to deal with the pace of Jamaican athlete Oblique Seville over 100m.

Seville, 24, raced to a victory over Lyles in the 100m at the 2025 Athletissima Lausanne last week, clocking an impressive time of 9.87 seconds compared to Lyles’ 10.02 seconds, which culminated in his third straight loss over the 100m distance in the Diamond League circuit this year.

Noah Lyles in action (Credit:Getty)

This came after Seville had earlier stormed to victory over Lyles at the London Diamond League meet back in July, finishing with a time of 9.86 seconds - 0.14 seconds quicker than Lyles.

It must be said that the 2024 Olympic 100m champion has struggled with both illness and injury since his triumph in France, and he will, no doubt, be hoping to return to his best in the 200m Diamond League final in Zurich on Thursday evening.

Current Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tobogo will likely be Lyles’ rival for first place in the Diamond League Final.

Of course, Tobogo, 22, stunned Lyles to win the 200m gold in Paris last year and registered an African record 19.46 seconds in the process.

And the pair’s rivalry will no doubt be a huge talking point ahead of September’s IAAF World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

However, despite Tobogo’s exploits in the 200m and Lyles in both the 100 and 200m distances, no man has run faster than Bolt in either event.

The Jamaican produced a world record time in both distances – 9.58 seconds in the 100m and 19.19 seconds in 200m - during the 2009 World Championships.

But how would Lyles fare against Bolt in the 200m race?

Well, a 3D simulation published by MotionAthlete predicted exactly what may have happened if the pair did compete.

Over 200m, Lyles started better and led until around the 150m mark before the rangy Bolt quickly ate up the ground to surpass his opponent before striding away with 100m to go.

Lyles did regain some ground, but he was no match for Bolt according to the simulation.