Noah Lyles: It’s about carrying that mantle, no matter how heavy it gets

Even though he competes in the sprints — one of the few events in track and field that has never suffered a shortage of outspoken personalities — Noah Lyles stands out as someone who is probably the brashest of his generation.

He enters the track with flamboyant pre-race routines and Yu-Gi-Oh cards, wins races wearing fingernail polish, a glitzy, multicoloured chain-link necklace and Dragon Ball Z socks, and celebrates his victories by cheekily calling out giant American domestic sports leagues for their claims of being ‘world’ champions.

Lyles is a long way from his element in Pune, where he is flagging off the Bajaj Life Pune Marathon on Sunday. Ahead of the event, Lyles speaks to Sportstar about how he views his legacy, the accomplishments that mean the most to him, and the vulnerabilities his brash personality hides.

What’s something you realised this year that others might not consider an accomplishment but which means a lot to you?

Watching the growth of the 200m as a competition. It’s made me very emotional. When I first came into the sport, Bolt had just left. [Justin] Gatlin was on his way out. Yohan [Blake] was up and down. We had this drought in the 200m, which was my favourite event. Then I started to see the times drop, the averages drop. All of a sudden, we’re hearing that 2025 had the fastest national championships in the 200m ever. We’ve had the fastest semifinal times at a World Championships. We’ve had the fastest Olympic finals we’ve ever seen in this event. That has been very enjoyable to watch.

This year, you were nominated for another World Athlete of the Year award, but Mondo [Duplantis] won it. Do you ever think it’s harder for you to win these awards because you need to do well in more events?

Gold medallists Noah Lyles of the United States and Armand Duplantis of Sweden pose for a photo at the 2025 Diamond League in Monaco.
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I don’t think Mondo doesn’t deserve Athlete of the Year — I mean he breaks the world record every year. But the World Athlete of the Year thing is kind of redundant. I mean, Melissa (Jefferson-Wooden, who swept gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m at the 2025 World Athletics Championships) wasn’t even nominated. At this point, the award is kind of a joke.

How much of what we see of you on social media or TV is a dialled-up-to-10 version of you?

It’s maybe a dialled-up-to-12 version of me. When I’m in my safe space, it’s a pretty heavy dial-down. Some people are shocked at how relaxed I can be, especially in my own home. I’m pretty quiet there. I might be playing video games. I might be laughing with friends. I don’t have to be a 10 there.

At practice, though, I’m very driven. I might not even talk a lot because I’m hyper-focused on getting everything out of practice to make it better. Then, when we get to the races, I get to be the showman. I get to let out that personality, that excitement I’ve been building up.

People drop this word a lot, and you are just 28, but are you already thinking about your legacy?

I don’t think my legacy is going to stop at any point just on the track. I’m still going to be involved. I’m still going to be pushing for new avenues and new spaces for track to reside in and trying to create new opportunities for the athletes coming behind me. I think that will add to the legacy I created while I was on the track.’

FULL INTERVIEW TO FOLLOW

Published on Dec 14, 2025