He came, he saw, he conquered! This best describes Noah Lyles’ outstanding exploit at the ongoing IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland where the 19-year old clinched the enviable title of the fastest Junior athlete in the world, storming to victory in a Season’s Best (SB) of 10.17s.
The American sprinter remained unbeaten in all three races in Poland, winning Heat 3 in the preliminaries in the overall fastest time of 10.28s. He also won his semis in 10.22s, and was 2nd in the overall rankings behind South Africa’s Tlotliso Leotlela who set a Personal Best (PB) of 10.20s to win his own heat.
The South African was eventually upstaged in the final, finishing outside the podium in 4th place (10.28s), as Italy’s Filippo Tortu claimed the Silver medal with a time of 10.24s, while Mario Burke of Barbados won Bronze in 10.26s.
Brazil’s pair of Paulo André de Oliveira ( 10.29s) and Derick Silva (10.37s) finished 5th and 7th respectively. Raheem Chambers of Jamaica was 6th in 10.30s. It was not a good outing for Great Britain’s Rechmial Miller who crossed the finishing line in 16.18s after being hit by injury.
Following the US Olympic Trials two weeks ago, a lot of media attention had been focused on Lyles who entered the history books as the fastest U.S. high schooler ever over 200m after setting National Indoor and Outdoor Records of 20.63s and 20.09s respectively. He narrowly missed making the Olympic team after finishing 4th behind Justin Gatlin (19.74s), LaShawn Merritt (19.79s) and Ameer Webb (20.00s).
His feat at the Zawisza Stadium has confirmed that Lyles’ blazing performance this year is no fluke, even as he gets set to decide whether or not to sign a professional contract after the championships. Even though the 200m is his major event, the sprinter isn’t listed for the event in Bydgoszcz.
