EUGENE – Reigning 200m world champion Noah Lyles will be stepping up his campaign for a sprint double at this year’s world championships in Budapest, Hungary, when he tackles the 100m at the US trials in Eugene, Oregon.
With his 200m spot dialled in, Lyles said, he is finally had the luxury of focussing on the 100m, and he is not just doing it for a change of pace.
“I just decided I wanted to win the 100 along with the 200,” he said on Wednesday, on the eve of the United States athletics championships, the selection meeting for the world meet in Budapest.
“I mean, we haven’t had a doubler since (Usain) Bolt, and it’s about time we have one – why not me?”
Jamaican great Bolt was the last man to complete a 100m-200m world championship double, something he did in 2009, 2013 and 2015.
Lyles, who won 200m world titles in 2019 and 2022, said he is now confident enough in his title defence to tackle the 100m as well – something he had backed off from before.
“We tried to do the double in 2021 and I call it my worst year ever, it was a really rough year, we never really got the timing right,” the 25-year-old said.
In 2022, Lyles added, he decided a double attempt posed too much risk to what he wanted to accomplish in the 200m.
“And after last year, having such a dominant reign and hold on the 200, it’s like, OK, now we have the comfortability to go and really put in what we need to for the 100.”
Lyles has been under 10 seconds in all five of his 100m races in 2023, including a victory at the Paris Diamond League in June.
“We’ve really been honing on that absolute speed top end, running the drive phase, really working in that 10 to 20 (metre) area,” Lyles said.
“My coach is like, you’ve got to get nasty in here, because that’s where I’m going to make up the biggest difference.”
Lyles, who can skip the 200m at the US trials since he has a bye to defend that title, will launch his 100m bid on Thursday.
His task may be made easier by the fact that men’s 100m world champion Fred Kerley will focus on qualifying for the 200m.
Marvin Bracy-Williams and Trayvon Bromell, who finished second and third behind Kerley at the world championships on the same Hayward Field track in Eugene in 2022, are set to challenge him. AFP
