Noah Lyles Is Chasing Usain Bolt On and Off the Track

Noah Lyles’s Paris Olympics saga is far from over. The 27-year-old is still looking for gold in the 200-meter sprint, which would make him the first man since Usain Bolt in the 2016 Rio Games to win both the 100-meter and 200-meter races, or what’s known as the “double.”

Lyles is the heavy favorite to win the event—his odds are at -460 on FanDuel Sportsbook—as he’s significantly more experienced in the 200-meter than in the 100-meter. His 200-meter accolades encompass three world championships, including the last two titles, and a bronze medal from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

On Monday, Lyles won his Round 1 heat and qualified for the 200-meter semifinals, slowing in the final stretch when he had clearly won the race.

“The 200 is my wife, and the 100 is my mistress,” Lyles said on the Netflix docuseries “Sprint” before winning the double in the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Double or not, Lyles’s win in the 100-meter, the most prestigious track event, solidifies his title as the fastest man in the world.

Bolt Comparison

Comparisons between Bolt and Lyles are inevitable, and the American has declared that he wants to challenge Bolt’s world-record times. 

“He’s the fastest man to ever do it, and soon it’ll be me,” Lyles told CNN in March.

But, like Bolt, Lyles also wants to impact the sport beyond the track. Bolt’s dominance and longevity made him the face of the sport, but his bravado, which includes a signature pose, made him one of the world’s most marketable athletes.

Lyles, from his shots at NBA players to showing Yu-Gi-Oh! cards before big races, has already shown the swagger to become a media focal point. The question now is how high he can go in a sport that only receives significant international fanfare every four years during the Olympics.

A Signature Shoe

After winning the 100-meter race on Sunday, Lyles, an Adidas athlete since 2016, told reporters that he wants his own signature shoe, particularly a training shoe and not a track-and-field spike.

“I want my own shoe. I want my own trainer. Dead serious. I want a sneaker, ain’t no money in spikes. There’s money in sneakers,” Lyles said.

It may not be a coincidence that Lyles made his statement the day after Bolt launched a signature lifestyle shoe with Puma.

Athletic brands often reserve their signature shoes for athletes in more accessible and marketable sports, particularly basketball. There are some other athletes with their own signature lines that come with lifestyle and training shoes, such as On with Roger Federer and Adidas with Patrick Mahomes.

Those are two of the greatest athletes in their sport’s history, so a shoe or clothing line would cement Lyles as the face of track and field.

“With today’s win, and everything he has achieved in his career so far, Noah has cemented his greatness and place as one of the leading athletes in the world. We’re proud to have been able to support him on every step of his journey since our partnership began in 2016,” said Alberto Uncini Manganelli, Adidas’s general manager of running and credibility sports, in a statement after Sunday’s race.