World Athletics Respond After Noah Lyles Brands Top Award ‘A Joke’ in the Sport
World Athletics has responded after Noah Lyles dismissed the sport's top prize as a "joke," despite being nominated for the award.
The 28-year-old American sprinter enjoyed a strong World Championships in Tokyo, winning gold in both the 200m and 4x100m relay.
That brought his total of world championship gold medals to eight, with only legendary Jamaican Usain Bolt having more, with 11.
Lyles' performances earned him a nomination for the Men's World Athlete of the Year award, alongside Mondo Duplantis, Mattia Furlani, Sabastian Sawe, Alphonce Simbu and Emmanuel Wanyonyi.
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Ultimately, Swedish pole vaulter Duplantis won the award, having broken the world record four times and gone undefeated in 16 competitions.
In addition to claiming the world title, Duplantis also became the first man in history to clear 6.30 metres.
Meanwhile, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won the Women's award, having claimed the 400m world title, as she went undefeated at that distance.
Ahead of the recent Bajaj Pune marathon, Lyles spoke to Indian outlet Sportstar and criticised the award.
He said: "There’s a lot more politics to these awards than you think.
"I don’t think that Mondo doesn’t deserve Athlete of the Year. I mean he breaks the world record every year.
"Personally, I didn’t even think I was going to get nominated this year.
"I started out and got injured in the middle of it. I had some great 200m timings.
"It wasn’t until they nominated me and I actually looked at my season that I realised, 'wow that wasn’t too bad, why wouldn’t I get nominated!’"
Lyles added: "At this point, this award is kind of a joke."
On Tuesday, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe held a media call during which he addressed the award, which has faced criticism in recent years over the voting process.
Currently, a 'panel of international experts' produces a list of nominees across three disciplines: track, field and out of stadium events.
A round of voting then reduces that list to two finalists per category.
The World Athletics Council’s votes account for 50%, the World Athletics Family for 25%, and the remaining 25% comes from a public vote conducted on social media.
According to Letsrun, Coe said the organisation is reviewing the voting process.
He said: “It’s a democratic vote, we respect the results.
"But again, we want to make sure that the voting structure is optimising our opportunities to promote and celebrate the best of their generation.”
Topics: Athletics, Noah Lyles
James Taylor