“Put Every Doubter to Sleep”: Noah Lyles Recalls Life’s Turning Point Before His 2021 Prefontaine Classic Victory

Noah Lyles’ dominance in his sport is not foreign to the track and field enthusiasts who have been following him along on his journey. The 27-year-old may have put himself in the spotlight far too many times, but that has only resulted in him gaining confidence to beat more records. So, where did this journey to stardom on the track begin?

In a recent chat with USATF, he went back in time to recall the turning point in his life and what made him shoot for the top always. His transformative journey began in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics – his first time competing on that international stage.

At the time, Lyles won his first-ever Olympic medal – a bronze – at the men’s 200m sprint. However, he wasn’t quite satisfied with it since he had prepared for the gold and repeatedly expressed his disappointment about the milestone. That’s when his sports therapist jumped in and gave him a reality check on how he needed to pick himself up.

“I wasn’t planning to go to Prefontaine. I was like, ‘I don’t want to see them guys, you know? Nobody’s going to want to see me…third place guy.”

Ultimately, after getting a jolt of motivation from his therapist, Lyles went ahead and participated in the Prefontaine Classic a few weeks later. No one came close to his victory and personal best record at the time, and he credited his mental health professional for that. He recalled how they pushed him to make an appearance on the track once again.

“You need to go there. You need to show up. And you need to put every doubter to sleep…you were not the person who was supposed to win that race. You had an off day – off days happen.”

Not only did Lyles end up putting his best foot forward at the time, but he also established the meet record with a time of 19.52s. Since then, he has only strived to one-up himself at each competition, aiming for more records and personal bests.

With a rocky Olympics this season owing to his COVID-19 diagnosis, Lyles still managed to bag a historic gold at the 100m sprint and an impressive bronze at the 200m. Although, with how things turned out unsatisfactory for him this season, fans expect him to redeem himself at the next World Championships in Tokyo.