How Noah Lyles is Getting Faster

Noah Lyles isn’t just sprinting. He’s chasing.

Ahead of the 2023 World Track and Field Championships, the Olympic bronze medalist shared his goal of chasing down Usain Bolt’s world record in the 200-meter event.

Lyles fell short of that goal by 0.12 seconds, but did win world titles in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay – becoming the first athlete to sweep all three events since Bolt in 2015. He also stoked debate by taking on the NBA, done with the hope of moving track and field more into the mainstream.

While chasing Bolt's accolades, Lyles met the sprinting legend for the first time in June at the Racers Grand Prix in Bolt’s home country of Jamaica.

“It was a pretty quick moment,” Lyles told The Messenger. “The biggest advice was just to tell me to keep doing what I’m doing.”

But ahead of next summer’s Paris Olympics, Lyles won't exactly just continue doing what he has been. He's learned to change things up, year after year, as seen in a bold yet calculated decision to prioritize the 100-meter this season.

Since bursting onto the world scene in 2019, Lyles has been known as a 200-meter runner thanks to his three world titles and American record in the event. The 100-meter, while never fully off the table, just wasn’t his main focus in recent years.

"My mom is very scared when it comes to running the 100 because it's a different muscle, it's not what I'm known for, but I've known for years now that the 100 would always be in my scope."

In 2023, the 26-year-old sprinter proved he is a dual-threat. In addition to his world championship hardware, he also concluded the season as the fastest man in both the 100m (three-way tie) and 200m. Now he’s likely to enter the Olympics as a medal favorite in both.

The focus on the 100-meter in 2023 wasn't just about winning another medal. It was one of a series of decisions by Lyles to help him achieve his ultimate goal of breaking Bolt's 200m record. He admits that the first 100 meters was the weakest part of his 200-meter sprint before this year.

"It was time to increase the 100 speed dramatically, because that’s where we were going to see the most performance in making the 200 faster," Lyles said.

Lyles’ plan was born out of a performance he was disappointed with at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He entered the postponed Olympics as the gold medal favorite in the 200m but walked away with bronze. It led to a revelation that Lyles, then 24, couldn’t just rely on the strategy that had gotten him to that point. He needed to come up with a new game plan.

After Tokyo, Lyles started an annual tradition of going into every new year looking to change certain aspects about his lifestyle and routine. This year’s move? Making physiotherapy balance training a daily practice, instead of just using it as an injury prevention tool.

Physiotherapy balance training involves exercises that balance the core and leg muscles. These exercises can improve stability and, in Lyles’ case, ensure that his muscles and ligaments are aligned to create the fastest possible movements and not compensating for any imbalances.

“I started understanding the ideas of imbalances and weaknesses,” Lyles said. “If I have one glute that is weaker than the other then that’s going to cause an imbalance in the body because another muscle or joint will be trying to make up for that imbalance instead of me strengthening that muscle or learning how to activate it better and then I'm able to produce more power, which in turn makes me faster.”

All Lyles needs for this training is a set of multi-weight dumbbells and the year-long instruction of his physiotherapist Dr. Jo Brown. The 2023 season was the first year Lyles worked with Brown from start to finish and used the exercises in his daily training. In previous years, Lyles only worked with Brown for one month out of the season.

“It’s helped me understand my body more,” Lyles said. “I still have to understand my body and learn my sport enough to know how to use it.”

So what will change for 2024?

“In practice, we are definitely going to be stepping out of the comfort zone,” Lyles said, adding that he plans to add more memorable training sessions, the type of workouts that will stick with him for years to come.

Lyles doesn't remember most workouts, but reflects on one he did in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics. It involved a series of long- and short-distance sprints on wet grass, while wearing tennis shoes. To this day, he says it is still the hardest workout he’s ever done. On damp grass, without much traction, Lyles had to run a 400-meter sprint and then only got a few minutes of rest before having to run six 200-meter sprints with just two minutes of rest in between.

Lyles hopes his workouts next year aren't quite as memorable as that one.

“Doing that in spikes on a track, it's difficult, but not impossible,” Lyles said. “Doing that on wet grass, yeah, you're gonna be passing out, probably throwing up that day. It's the only workout that really stuck out to me as being hard, and I never want to see that again.”

Still, it’s the closest thing to a sneak peak for what’s to come in 2024 when his chase continues.