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The American sprint legend has advised Noah Lyles to reconsider his stance on the race as it has the potential to bring him more than he thinks he is getting from it.
Former Olympics champion Justin Gatlin has advised multiple world champion Noah Lyles to put more emphasis on the 200m in 2025 as it has the potential of making history for him.
Lyles has three world titles in 200m, having won the race at the 2019, 2022 and 2023 World Championships, but his desire to win an Olympics gold over the distance went up in smoke at the Paris 2024 Games when he finished a disappointing third behind American compatriot Kenny Bednarek and winner Letsile Tebogo.
He has also come of age in 100m, where he claimed his first world title in 2023 before winning gold at the Paris Olympics, making him now the man to beat over the distance.
However, Gatlin feels Lyles would be making a grave mistake if he allowed the Olympics 200m disappointment to dictate which races he focuses on next season as he feels it is where he is best placed to break a world record, given he has the third fastest time in history of 19.31, ran in Eugene in 2022.
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07:00 - 19.12.2024
‘I took it without thinking’ - Junelle Bromfield regrets her decision as attempt to cook for Noah Lyles runs into headwinds
Junelle Bromfield’s desire to cook for her fiancé Noah Lyles left her in a major dilemma as her choice of meal became too problematic to prepare.
“My narrative of what 2025 would look for Noah I think I would love for him to kind of roll his sleeves up and go to work on that 200m,” Gatlin said on his Ready Set Go podcast.
“Why I say this is because he made it comfortable before and said he wants to go after the world record in the 200m. Maybe now in 100m, Noah does not feel there is any reason to do so [go for a 100m world record], what is it going to amount to? But the effort that he will give to get it up there [200m world record] would potentially kill two birds with one stone.
“What I mean by that is, he would be making history, breaking that [200m] record but also we know that it is what [Letsile] Tebogo is going to be focused on. We know the fact that he is trying to make his mark in that 200m realm.
“That is going to be his sweet spot and I think it is going to look like; ‘oh Noah dropped down to the 100m’ which left the 200m vacant. Alright cool, but does that mean vacant or does it mean you got pushed out?”
Gatlin feels Botswana’s Tebogo, who stunned Lyles to win Olympics gold, is going to have a field day if the American does not take the 200m seriously yet it was his bread and butter before the emergence of the 21-year-old.
“Because now they are going to run times that is 19.4s of 19.3s or do we see Noah come back into the 200m like; ‘hold on now! You are trying to get a little too fast without me.’ So, I would tell him to take it a little too serious in the 200m and see how that looks like,” added Gatlin.
“He made a comment that he wants to go for the world record, let’s see it. We haven’t had a world record for a long time in the sprints.”
Lyles has previously expressed his desire to break the 200m world record of 19.19 set by legendary Jamaican Usain Bolt in 2009 but he did not succeed at the 2023 Worlds.
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08:00 - 29.11.2024
'Nobody cares about it'- Olympic champion Noah Lyles trashes 'favorite' 200m event in shocking remarks about sprinting’s future
Noah Lyles sparks controversy, dismissing the 200m’s importance, favoring the 100m as the ultimate sprinting achievement.
The sprinter, however, hinted at why he might not take the race seriously last month, claiming that “no one cares about the 200m” as fans are more interested in whoever wins the 100m.
"100m champion. Do you want your 100m? Nobody cares about the 200m. I learned that very quickly after breaking the American record and losing to Mondo for Athlete of the Year. I was just like, they don't care," Lyles said last month.
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