Eugene (United States) (AFP) – Noah Lyles believes he is rounding into form at the right time ahead of next month’s World Championships in Tokyo after a scintillating world-leading 200m victory at the US trials on Sunday. Lyles, the reigning Olympic 100m champion, will attempt to defend both his 100m and 200m world crowns in Japan, aiming to emulate Usain Bolt with a fourth consecutive world 200m gold.
The 28-year-old from Florida warmed up for that challenge in Eugene on Sunday by clocking a world-leading 19.63secs in a testy battle with Kenny Bednarek. Lyles angered Bednarek by turning his head to stare down his rival just before he took the tape. Bednarek shoved Lyles in the back over that apparent taunt. Lyles refused to comment about the flashpoint after his win. “Under coach’s orders, no comment,” Lyles said before brushing off further attempts to talk about the spat. Bednarek, though, was more expansive.
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“That’s unsportsmanlike shit, and I don’t deal with that,” Bednarek said. “I don’t deal with any of that stuff. It’s not good character.” The feud sets up the possibility of an intriguing rivalry over the remaining months of the season between the two US sprinters. While both men are planning to run in Europe ahead of the World Championships, they will almost certainly duel again in Tokyo.
– ‘I can beat him’ – Lyles, who has endured a patchy season disrupted by niggling ankle and groin injuries, believes that his best is yet to come and that Sunday’s win augurs well for his world championship hopes. “If they ain’t gonna beat me now, they ain’t gonna beat me ever,” Lyles said. “I’m seeing everything I need to see in practice, so I’m truly just waiting for it to transfer over. Me and my coach says when you see something happen in practice, it takes about three weeks to see it on the track in a race.
“And it’s still not even close to what we’ve seen in practice — we’re still far behind. I’m trying to get as many races in as possible. You know, as you can all see, I’m underdeveloped in terms of races. So I just need to keep getting sharp. So I need to keep putting myself in more and more competitions.”
Bednarek, meanwhile, plans to be lying in wait for Lyles in Tokyo. The 26-year-old from Tulsa has three silver medals in the 200m at major championships but is so far waiting for his breakthrough gold. “Next time we line up, I’m gonna win,” Bednarek said. “That’s all that matters to me.” Bednarek noted too that while Lyles had run only three races in Eugene — scratching from the 100m after his opening heat — he had raced all five rounds of the 100m and 200m.
“I’ve said it for years, Noah’s gonna be Noah. If he wants to stare me down, that’s fine,” Bednarek said. “But I ran five rounds, and he was fresh. We can line up again when we’re both fresh and let’s see what happens — because I’m very confident I can beat him.”
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