Lyles runs national record to lead US 200m sweep in Oregon

Noah Lyles is back. After a painful year in which he coped with mental health struggles and finished a disappointed third in the Tokyo Olympics, Lyles retained the world 200m title in breathtaking fashion on Thursday (21), running the third-fastest time in history and leading another US sprint medals sweep at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.Lyles broke from the blocks and controlled the race from the start, destroying the field as he came around the turn and accelerated down the straight to become the first back-to-back men’s world 200m champion since Usain Bolt won four titles in a row from 2009 to 2015.

The clock first showed the winning time as a championship record of 19.32, which would have tied Michael Johnson’s US record from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Lyles turned and walked over to the clock and pointed at it, willing a faster time.Seconds later, the clock flashed the amended official time: 19.31. That put Lyles ahead of Johnson and alone in third on the all-time list behind Bolt’s world record of 19.19 and Yohan Blake’s 19.26.

“I saw the time popped up and I tied Michael Johnson’s record,” Lyles said. “I was like, ‘You’re really going to do that?’ Then the number changed from 2 to 1, and my whole mood changed.

“I was true in form for a world record, but I am OK with the American record,” he added. “I literally had nothing left after I crossed the finish line.”

With Olympic silver medallist Kenneth Bednarek finishing second in 19.77 and 19-year-old phenom Erriyon Knighton taking bronze in 19.80, it was the first US sweep of the 200m since 2005 when Justin Gatlin, Wallace Spearmon Jr. and John Capel Jr. finished 1-2-3.And it came only five days after US sprinters went gold-silver-bronze in the men’s 100m. Thursday’s race marked the first time the US, or any country, has swept the podium in both the 100m and 200m at any World Championships (and it has only happened once at the Olympics, in 1904).And more history was made, as Knighton became the youngest ever individual sprint medallist at the World Championships.

(World Athletics)