American sprinter Noah Lyles has taken his game to the next level in 2023.
Friday’s 200-meter final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest provided the most compelling evidence of this yet, as Lyles ran a 19.52 to sweep the 100-meter and 200-meter races.
It marked the fifth world championship gold medal for Lyles, 26. Aside from his medals this year, he won the 200-meter race in Eugene in 2022 and the 200-meter and 4x100-meter relay in Doha in 2019.
Lyles, a native of Gainesville, Fla., also won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021.
THREE IN A ROW FOR NOAH LYLES! 🥇🥇🥇
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 25, 2023
He completes the sprint double with 19.51 in the men's 200m! #WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/Bq7FHXsJTE
The victory made Lyles the first man to win both the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints at the world championships since Jamaican legend Usain Bolt in 2015.
American Erriyon Knighton, a Tampa native, finished second with a time of 19.75. Rounding out the top three was Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who ran a 19.81.
