For somebody as outspoken as Noah Lyles, the reigning Olympic 100m champion, the previous three months have been unusually quiet. However that’s about to vary.
On Friday, Lyles will kick off his 2025 outside season within the males’s 200m on the Monaco Diamond League. The American dash star introduced the information on Instagram, writing: “Assembly Herculis. Diamond League Monaco. 200m 2025 Debut. Friday, July 11.”
It will mark Lyles’s first 200m race since ending third within the Olympic last at Paris 2024, the place Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo stormed to victory in an African report time of 19.46 seconds. Kenny Bednarek took silver, whereas Lyles (who later revealed he had contracted COVID-19 within the days main as much as the ultimate) needed to accept bronze, claiming he wasn’t at 100 per cent.
Now, Monaco units the stage for a extremely anticipated rematch between two of the game’s greatest sprinting stars. Tebogo has been undefeated in his three 200m races this season, whereas Lyles is trying to ship a message forward of the U.S. Observe and Area Championships on the finish of July.
Up to now this season, Lyles has solely raced as soon as outdoor—a 400m rust-buster on the Tom Jones Invitational in Gainesville, Fla., the place he clocked 45.87 seconds. He was additionally briefly linked to a rumoured showdown towards NFL large receiver Tyreek Hill over 60 metres in Occasions Sq., however the plan fell by way of for private causes. As an alternative, Hill raced (and received) towards Lyles’s youthful brother, Josephus.
Might we see a world report?
The lads’s 200m received’t be the one marquee matchup in Monaco. The lads’s 800m subject will function seven of the eight Olympic finalists from Paris, together with all three medallists—Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Canada’s Marco Arop and Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati. These three are among the many 5 quickest males in historical past over 800m and can little doubt have their sights set on David Rudisha’s world report of 1:40.91, set on the London 2012 Olympics.
The Monaco Diamond League begins Friday at 2 p.m. ET and might be streamed in Canada through CBC Sports activities, the CBC Sports activities app and CBC Gem.
