There’s no slowing down Noah Lyles.
The American speedster just won his fourth consecutive 200-meter world outdoor championship while competing Friday at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
The 28-year-old outpaced fellow American Kenny Bednarek by .06 seconds to win the gold medal after clocking 19.52. Coincidentally, Lyles also clocked 19.52 at the 2023 world championships.
With the victory, Lyles joins Olympics legends Usain Bolt and Michael Johnson as the only ones to have three gold medals in the 200 meters event at world events.
“Oh, man. That’s GOAT talk right there. That’s GOAT talk. So, you’re saying if I get one more, I’ll be the only one to do it?” said Lyles when told in a post-race NBC Sports interview about accomplishing the feat. “I can’t wait for 2027.”
NOAH LYLES DOES IT AGAIN! 😱
FOUR 200m world outdoor titles in a row! #WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/wo8jm82hyp
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) September 19, 2025
Not surprisingly, Lyles ran a better race, albeit by one one-hundredth-of-a-second, in the semifinals, finishing the race in 19.51 seconds, and he knew it.
“It wasn’t the start that I had in the semifinals, but I knew I was still moving fast,” Lyles said. “After studying my competitors, I knew that I still was doing the one thing that they weren’t, and that’s slingshotting off of the turn. I knew that their momentum was going to drift off as they got close to the 150, and I knew that mine was going to build up as we got close to the 150. So being patient, I think, was the most important thing.”
It’s safe to say Lyles won’t be out of breath walking up stairs anytime soon, unlike one Usain Bolt.
