Noah Lyles enters the 2024 Olympics in Paris looking to become the first American man to win gold in the 100m in 20 years, as Justin Gatlin was the last to do so in 2004 in Athens. While Usain Bolt lorded over the sprinting world for 12 years, his retirement opened the door for a number of challengers to take the throne as the World’s Fastest Man, with Italy’s Marcell Jacobs winning gold in 2021 in Tokyo.
Lyles took hold of that title last year at the World Championships in Budapest, where he swept golds in the 100m and 200m, establishing himself as a favorite going to Paris. After winning the US Olympic Trials in both events again, he arrived in France with confidence overflowing, a far cry from where he was in Tokyo when he left with just a bronze in the 200m while battling depression. Now, Lyles is in a much better head space, which has allowed him to push himself more physically and become a threat for double gold (triple, with the relay included) in Paris.
A week before the opening ceremony, we got a chance to talk with Lyles over Zoom from Paris on behalf of Xfinity, where he was getting an early look at the track and finalizing his preparations for the Olympics. We talked about his race day routine, working through depression, challenging himself by running the 60m season to get better off the blocks, how learning to “be comfortable in the uncomfortable” allowed him to tap his full potential, and what his Olympics followup will be to his Yu-Gi-Oh! cards from the Trials.
How did this partnership with with Xfinity come about for you, and what are they doing to allow you to stay connected with with friends and family while you’re over there?
Yeah, so I was with Xfinity back in 2021. So, I’ve kind of been a part of the family for a while now. We’ve done some on and off things throughout the years. And it’s become a situation where it’s like, ‘Yo, we’re going to the Olympics and we want to sponsor you again.’ It’s a no-brainer. But outside of that, they’ve been helping all of us Team USA athletes. They’ve been giving us vouchers to help get out and stay connected with our family. Because, you know, those international fees of calling back and forth your mom, they add up after a few days. I’ve got Verizon, so anytime I go over on my calls, it’s like 10 extra dollars every day.
How important is that as an athlete that competes globally? And how do you make sure you’re carving out time to stay connected and still be talking with with your friends and family and stay grounded even as you compete all around the world?
I think it’s just important to let your family know when and where you’re going. Like, everybody knows I got a five hour time difference, and they just know that sometimes you’re not going to be able to get a hold of me. But I’m always going to try and call back when I get time. And the days I feel go by so fast when you’re overseas, as opposed to when you’re back home, and you wake up it’s like, oh, it’s 12 o’clock and it feels like the day is just getting started. Well, I woke up this morning and it was 11 o’clock and I was already late for three things [laughs].
Are you a routine oriented guy on race day? And do you try to do the same things all day, or is it more like a certain time period before the race you try to lock in?
A certain time period before the race. Usually a lot of my races are at night, and I can’t be in my hotel all day. I gotta be doing something. Whether that’s playing video games or walking around the city or going to the mall, maybe go watch a movie or something like that. I gotta be doing something. I can’t just sit down and lay in the bed and be in my room all day long. That’s not me.
When do you kind of lock in and what is that routine to get yourself ready for a race?
Yeah, so, if my race is at 8 p.m. then I’d say two hours before that would be 6 p.m. is when I’d show up to the track. And I’d say two hours before that is when I start my nap. And after I wake up from the nap, it’s like okay, we’re locked in. So like 4 p.m. So if I have an 8 p.m. race, 4 p.m. is when it’s like, okay, we’re now only doing things that are in relation to the track meet.
How long did it take you to figure out that process for yourself, to make sure that you’re not trying to focus too far ahead and getting in your head or anything like that too early in the day?
I’d say through high school is when I learned that type of mindset. I’ve had a sports therapist since I was in ninth grade in high school. So learning a lot of different skills and tricks and how to prepare myself, personally, was definitely something that I picked up and adapted and brought it with me throughout my career.
What’s the biggest difference you feel in where you’re at as an athlete, mentally and physically, from 2021 to now?
Well, mentally, I’m not depressed anymore.
That’s helpful.
So that fixes a lot of things. A lot, a lot of things. Just waking up and going to practice is way more enjoyable than it was back in 2021. So I’d say yeah, that’s where I’d start. In terms of physical, I’m a lot stronger. I’ve devoted a lot more time in the gym. I’d say I’m faster. I have more medals under my belt. I’ve been to bigger competitions. I’ve been in almost every scenario I feel I can put myself in to say, you know, if it’s the biggest level, I’ve been here before and I’ve won, and that was the outcome. So every time I’m practicing this year, it’s like I have the blueprint already. Now we’re just adding final touch details. And that’s what makes it fun, because I’ve already achieved times and races at the highest level that I was doing in 2021 and getting better outcomes from that year.
What are the things that you feel like you’ve really refined in your form? Because I mean, something that fascinates me about track is you’re in a sport where a tenth of a second is huge, a hundredth of a second matters. So, what are the things that you feel like you’ve been able to really refine over this year to try to get yourself to that peak level for Paris?
Yeah, I’d say the two things that really made a huge dent was working on my first 60 meters, which is why I ran a lot of 60s in the indoor season. And I’m now a silver medalist at the World [Athletics] Indoor [Championships] 60m, which is something that’s crazy. On my bingo card I never had that being a thing. You know, being told you’re not a good starter for so many years, you’re not going to say, yeah, I’m gonna go out there and I’m gonna get a medal at the indoor 60 meters. But to be able to do that, I had to devote a lot more time and energy into the weight room.
There are a lot of times where I could say I’m content with lifting this much weight. It’s gotten me this far. I was like, ‘No, we have to push the boundaries.’ We got to really sink into getting stronger and stronger. Because if I want to do what I did last year, I do that. If I want to grow, I do more. And being diligent but also being smart on how to handle that weight is also very important.
How do you strike the balance between, you go and do a bunch of work in the 60 and working on that. Obviously getting out of the blocks quickly helps in the 200 too, but they are they are two different races. How do you strike the balance between your preparation and your practice for all the events that you do?
I’d say that through most of the beginning of my career I perfected the 200m. That was my baby. Everybody knows me as a 200m runner. But I was still running 100m at the time. I was the US champion in 2018. I was the Diamond League champion in 2019. I have had many 100m races under my belt that prove that I was 100m runner. It’s just when it came to the championships we always decided to go after one gold medal versus maybe two silvers, or bronze and gold. That never sat well with me. If they jeopardize getting the gold, we were saying we’re not going to go after it.
But then I became what I felt was sufficient enough in the 200m to say I can now start developing my 100m a lot more. I can give more attention to it. So I’ve been running way more 100m and way more 60m in the last two years than I have my whole career. And by doing that it’s helped me learn the event. I’m a student of the game. I like to go in. I like to dissect. I like to say, ‘Hey, what am I doing wrong? What am I doing better? What’s my weakness? How do I improve that?’ Because you’re only as good as your weakest link. And I’m a firm believer of that.
So going in, that’s how me and my coach have attacked that. And becoming more comfortable in that scenario and being comfortable in the uncomfortable situations, going up against the dogs of the 100m, I said, I’m no longer throwing myself to the wolves. I am the wolf.
You mentioned mentally being in a better space. How much does that translate to being more comfortable doing things that, you know, in the past you hadn’t had the same level of success at and being willing to put yourself through that? I have to imagine that comes down a ton to mentally being in a better space.
Oh, yeah. It’s hard to put yourself in an uncomfortable situation if you’re not ready for it. And if you can’t get your mind to fathom that, it doesn’t matter how ready you are, you’re not going to win. I’ve seen many runners who easily had the talent and had the skill and the speed to be able to win the championships or come out with medals, but their mental was just not there enough. In their head it was almost like, ‘Why me? Why should I win?’ Instead of being, I’m going to win, and I’m gonna take it if they don’t want to give it to me. You know, that’s just the way that you have to prep your head into going into it.
I think it’s easy to say that, right? But it’s harder to internalize it. I don’t know if you can even answer this, but what have you been able to do to not just say like, ‘I’m going to think this way,’ but actually be able to internalize those thoughts and believe those thoughts? Because it’s one thing to say ‘I believe this’ but it’s another thing to truly believe it.
Yeah, there is almost a fake it to make it starter point. I like to say you have to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Of course, it’s easy to say something. Of course it’s easy to say you’re going to do something. But if you don’t take those first few steps, and have the people around you to also force you to keep going forward. You’re never gonna get out of your comfort zone.
So, like I was saying earlier with running more 60m to face competitors that were better than me at something that I wasn’t particularly good at. Having those races I could always say, ‘Okay, I know how close I need to be.’ I might not need to beat them at this meter mark, but I need to be so close that when the time to strike is ready, I’ll be there every time. You know, not panicking just because somebody decided that they’re going to get out really hard. Or not panicking if I get out really hard, and saying to myself, ‘Oh, this person is so fast. I’m not supposed to be in front of them at this point.’
It’s like, no, if I did this, it’s because I’m faster and I should be running a fast time. Keep going with it. It’s that type of mentality that keeps you driving forward and starts to change your mindset instead of a situation where it’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t know how everybody else is gonna run.’ It shouldn’t matter how everybody else is going to run. It should matter what you’re going to do because you’ve practiced this.
Absolutely. Last thing, I’m not going to ask you what you have prepared, but with the cards at the Trials, was that something where that’s predetermined? Or is that a day of, whatever you’re feeling you bring with you to the track?
Well, the Olympic trials was pre-planned months in advance. It was based off of a dare. I did it. A shot putter who also loves anime, Chase Ealey, she’s a two-time world champion in the shot put, she dared me to bring out the full Exodia and I dared her to do the Rock Lee weight drop. So, we both lived up to both ends of our dare. It was really cool. I feel it was a cool anime moment for everybody. So, I usually do something different every track meet. That was the first time I brought Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. But I never usually try to do the same thing twice. Even now, I don’t have exactly, I have something I’m trying to get prepared. But it might not happen just because of how hard it is to get. But don’t worry, there will be tons of anime references and cards and stuff thrown around. You’re not going to be bored, I promise you.