CLERMONT, Fla. – On the heels of winning three gold medals at the 2023 track and field world championships, Noah Lyles has dreams of achieving the sprint quadruple in Paris.
Lyles, who specializes in the 100 and 200 meters, would like to compete in the two short sprints in addition to the 4×100 and 4×400 relays at the Paris Olympics. Lyles showcased his 400-meter skills at the 2024 indoor world championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sunday when he was a part of Team USA’s silver-medal winning 4×400 relay team. He also finished second in the 60 meters. Two events that aren’t his strong suit.
“That’s right. I want to do all that. Last year, I did the double. This year we’ve gone very strong in the weight room and it’s been able to give me the ability to handle more load. I think I was able to prove that when we went over to Glasgow,” Lyles said in an interview with USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday. “I was able to run three rounds in the 60 (meters) in one day, get one day break and come run the 4×400 relay after that. Two completely different races and very little time to prepare for them. I just feel like every time I step up to a new challenge, my body responds to it.”
Lyles is the reigning world champion in the 100 and 200 and the American record holder in the 200. But he received some criticism for being allowed to run the 4×400 relay at the indoor world championships.
Sprinter Fred Kerley, who is the 2022 world champion in the 100 and a 2018 Diamond League champion in the 400, accused USA Track and Field officials of showing favoritism toward Lyles and called the national governing body “puppets.”
When USA TODAY Sports asked Lyles about Kerley’s comments, he shrugged it off.
“Everybody wants to be the guy. Everybody wants to be the man. That doesn’t happen by accident,” Lyles said. “To Fred, if you want to run the relay, all I say is tell people you want to do it and keep telling them, until they say yes. Guess what, the first time I asked, it was not yes. I can promise you that. Although it might look like it happened by magic, it was hard work, dedication and informing the right people that I wanted to get it done.”
Lyles isn’t a complete 400-meter novice. In fact, he has the event in his blood. His mother, Keisha Caine Bishop, and father, Kevin Lyles, were both accomplished 400-meter runners. They competed collegiately at Seton Hall University.
Caine Bishop supports Lyles’ dream of running in four events in Paris, but in typical motherly fashion, she wants her son to prioritize listening to his body and health.
“If he wants to, as long as after all those rounds, his body is OK,” Caine Bishop told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s so many rounds, plus the 4×100-relay.”
There are traditionally four rounds in the 100 and the 200 (heats, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals). Lyles would have to be prepared to run at least on 10 different occasions if he added both relays to his Olympic event itinerary. A daunting challenge even for a premiere and conditioned athlete like Lyles.
Lyles’ coach, Lance Brauman, is more diplomatic when it comes to his star athlete expanding his repertoire to the 4×400 relay, but admitted that Lyles has 400-meter range.
“In my system and how we train here, sprinters sprint. You train where you can run anything from 100 meters to 400 meters. But the emphasis for him is the 100 and 200 meters,” Brauman said. “Anything that comes with the relay is a country decision. Like I told him, that should be something that you do for fun. Our job is to be a 100 and 200-meter sprinter. And that’s where my focus is. … I just need him to make the team first.”
It would be one of the biggest surprises in American track and field history if Lyles doesn’t qualify for the Paris Olympics at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in June. Presuming Lyles makes the U.S. squad, we’ll have to wait to see if he gets the chance to run four events in Paris. But Lyles certainly is advocating for the sprint quadruple.
Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.