Less than six months before the Paris Olympic Games, the stars of world athletics are gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, for the 19th edition of the World Indoor Athletics Championships, from March 1 to 3. American sprinter Noah Lyles is one of the main attractions of these championships.
3 mins
There will be 651 athletes from more than 130 nations with the objective of performing before the big deadline of Paris 2024. Over three days, 26 events will be contested, including thirteen for women and thirteen for men.
One of the most scrutinized athletes will certainly be the American Noah Lyles. Triple world champion last summer in Budapest in the 100, 200 and 4×100 m, Noah Lyles dreams of another raid in Paris. To achieve this, the American sprinter spent the winter perfecting his weak point: starts. At 26, Noah Lyles is participating in his first indoor world championships and wants to shine in the 60 meters, a discipline which corresponds less to his qualities but in which he has made dazzling progress in recent weeks.
Be among the most explosive from the first tens of meters
In Boston at the beginning of February, Noah Lyles shaved seven hundredths off his personal best in his first race of the winter (7 sec 44), before lowering the time further to win the United States championships in 7 sec 43, synonymous with the best world performance of the season just ahead of the world record holder in the discipline Christan Coleman.
Until this year, the former 200 meter specialist had never been among the most competitive over 60 meters (he was only the thirteenth performer in the world last winter), a distance too short to showcase his incredible end of the race and compensate for its average starts.
But he knows it: if he wants to repeat his feat of Budapest and achieve a new hat-trick in Paris, Noah Lyles, six-time world champion but never titled at the Games, cannot rely solely on his finishing skills. It must also be among the most explosive from the first tens of meters.
Focused on the only medal that matters to him: Olympic gold
Last year, the American had already started his transformation by working on the start of the race. “ I really realized that this was where I was falling behind “, he recently explained. “ The first ten meters are crucial, but the next twenty meters are even more crucial: this is where I could progress the most. »
The ultra-perfectionist athlete was therefore inspired by the best by analyzing the races of his compatriots Christian Coleman and Trayvon Bromell, both formidable right out of the starting blocks. He has also moved up a gear in bodybuilding, a necessary step to be more explosive at the start, and regularly posts videos on his networks where he breaks his deadlift records.
Although he dreams of winning his first international indoor title in Scotland, the exuberant American remains focused on the only medal that matters to him: Olympic gold. In Tokyo in 2021, for his first Games, Lyles was the favorite in the 200m but had to settle for a frustrating 3rd place.