After Months of Trash-Talking, Noah Lyles and Tyreek Hill Agree to Race

A race between USA track star Noah Lyles and NFL wideout Tyreek Hill appears to be on. 

After months of public jabs between the two, Hill and Lyles confirmed to People Magazine they will race each other either in the spring or summer before Lyles competes in the July’s U.S. Championships, which is close to when NFL training camps start. The race’s distance, location, and possible broadcast situation have yet to be sorted out. 

Hill, 30, started the conversation of a race in August when he said he could beat Lyles. Lyles, 27, won gold in the 100-meter dash at the 2024 Paris Olympics with a time of 9.784 seconds, giving him the title of fastest man in the world. He also won bronze in the 200-meter race at both the Paris Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“I would beat Noah Lyles [in a race],” Hill said then on the Up & Adams podcast. “I wouldn’t beat him by a lot, but I would beat Noah Lyles.”

Hill is considered one of the fastest players in the NFL and has some track history of his own. At Oklahoma State in 2014, he ran the 100-meter dash in 10.19 seconds as a 20-year-old and set numerous school records in his brief track career with the Cowboys. Had he stuck with track instead of football, it’s not far-fetched to say Hill could have had a chance at the Olympics. 

“Arrived on campus with the billing of a world-class sprinter, and did not disappoint,” Hill’s Cowboys bio says.

Hill, who plays for the Dolphins, told People a reason he wants to race Lyles is because he’s “got to do this for the guys that play my sport” and show that NFL players “did run track at some point, and we can come and take over your sport at any moment if we really wanted to.”

Lyles has returned the jabs, including a recent one at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Feb. 2 where he had a sign that read “Tyreek could never,” after winning the 60-meter dash for the fourth straight time. 

The two have never met in person and have interacted a handful of times, but seem to have mutual respect for one another, trash-talking aside, as fellow professional athletes. 

Hill and Lyles continued the smack-talk while discussing the race’s distance, which appears to be 60 meters after Hill said Lyles was “scared” to compete in a 40-meter dash while Lyles countered a 100-meter race would be a “blowout.” 

At OSU, Hill set the school record in the indoor 60-meter dash with a 6.64 second run. Lyles’ event-winning run two weeks ago was 6.52 seconds, giving Hill a legitimate chance assuming his times still hold after 10 years in the NFL. 

Assuming the event is broadcast, it would serve as an interesting test case for track, which has momentum after the upstart Grand Slam Track league landed a rights deal with The CW Network and NBC Sports on Feb. 3. Given the NFL’s massive ratings and the inclusion of a star such as Hill in a race, it should be another boost to the sport.