Washington (United States) (AFP) – Noah Lyles, the reigning Olympic men’s 100-meter champion, said Friday he has ended his 2026 season due to injury flare-ups only a week before the World Athletics Ultimate Championship. The 29-year-old American, a four-time world 200m champion who also won the 100m world title in 2023 at Budapest, will not compete at the major meet on September 11-13 at Budapest.
“Unfortunately, I come with some not great news. Me and my coach have decided that we’re going to end my 2026 season,” Lyles said in an Instagram post. His plans to compete in Hungary changed after he won the 100 at the US Track and Field Championships in July at New York in 9.79 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year.
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“It has been kind of complicated. We thought it was very simple. Unfortunately, after running at USAs, we found out that I had a small strain, not very serious, and the rehab that we were putting together was going extremely well,” Lyles said. “Unfortunately, because of the strain, it did cause some other things to flare up. And it has made it hard for me to continue broadcasting. We decided that we’ll just end the season here. Get ready for 2027, 2028, which are going to be humongous years.”
Lyles said he will still appear in Budapest, just not in races. “I still do have a party to throw and things to do behind the scenes to help support the athletes just go out there and be the best people that they can be,” Lyles said. “I still think that this is going to be an amazing competition and I’m excited to watch that.”
Next year’s world athletics championships are set for Beijing with the 2028 campaign topped by the Los Angeles Olympics.
© 2024 AFP
