Lyles withdraws from Monaco Diamond League meeting ahead of Paris Olympics

US sprint star Noah Lyles has withdrawn from Friday’s Monaco Diamond League meeting in order to finetune his preparations for the Paris Olympics, his management team said Wednesday.

Lyles, the reigning world 100m and 200m champion, had been due to run in the 200m at Friday’s meeting at the Stade Louis II in Monaco.

However the 26-year-old said in a statement that he had opted to remain at his training camp in Florida for extra work as he builds towards the Olympics, where he is chasing a 100m-200m double.

“I’m sorry to announce that I’ve withdrawn from this Friday’s Meeting Herculis EBS in Monaco,” Lyles said in a statement.

ALSO READ | Kawhi Leonard is off the US Olympic team and won’t play in Paris Games

“My coach, my entire team and I are very pleased with what we were able to achieve at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, however, in order to put myself in the best possible position to succeed in Paris, we have decided to spend an extra week at our training base in Florida before traveling to Europe.

“I’ll miss competing there on Friday, but I look forward to returning to race in Monaco next year.”

Lyles is the heavy favourite for the 200m at the Olympics and is the fastest man in the world over the distance this season with a leading time of 19.53sec set at the US Olympic trials last month.

He is the fourth fastest over the 100m this year with a best of 9.83sec, also set at the US trials.