Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles, the world’s fastest man, said Wednesday he'd be up for racing Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill — but only for 100 meters and under conditions he set.
Hill and Lyles, the Olympic 100 meters champion, have been beefing for days now after Hill insisted he could take Lyles in a 50-yard dash.
“I mean, if somebody wants to sponsor the event and we’re racing for millions of dollars and it’s on a track and we’re running 100 meters, then sure, we can race,” Lyles told NBC News.
“But it has to be legit. I’m not here to do gimmicks. You’re racing against a guy who has worked his whole life to get the title of ‘the world’s fastest man,’ and you’ve worked to be a great football player. You can’t just jump the line because you’re a great football player.”
Lyles’ comments Wednesday were his most detailed response yet to Hill’s boast that he could beat him.
A sticking point to any such race could be the distance, as Hill seems to be focused on no more than 50 yards.
“Sign the contract and lock in that 50 yard race,” Hill posted on X on Sunday.
There’d be virtually no setting where Hill runs 100 meters (a little more than 109 yards) in his 9-to-5 gig, other than returning a kick from the back of his own end zone for a touchdown.
While Lyles said he’s confident he’d beat Hill at a shorter distance, such as 50 yards or the NFL metric of 40 yards, he insisted he’d race only at 100 meters.
“Again, I’m not here to do gimmicks,” Lyles said. “You want to challenge me, ‘the world’s fastest man,’ if you want to challenge that, you have to challenge that in his event.”
Lyles, 27, won gold in the 100 meters and then bronze in what's believed to be his better event, the 200 meters, after he was diagnosed with Covid.
He vowed to be back for Los Angeles in 2028 and again seek to do the sprinting double.
"I think of it [L.A. 2028] being my greatest Olympics ever," Lyles said. "It's going to be on home soil. I've already got the beautiful feeling from Paris. The energy, the crowds were amazing. I'm just like, 'Oh, my gosh, you get to bring this back to the U.S. home soil?' It's very rare that you get to make the Olympics, and then on top of that, be in your own backyard."
Countless American athletes, across all sports, have said that they were blown away by the enthusiasm of French fans and that they hope for a similar experience in four years.
"It was definitely amazing; it was very energizing," Lyles said. "I couldn't have asked for a better crowd to perform for."
Lyles has ruffled the feathers of other athletes in recent days, particularly North American pro basketball players who compete every year for the Larry O'Brien Trophy and the title of "world champion."
He questioned whether any NBA champion player could call himself a "world champion" without playing the top clubs of other domestic leagues around the world.
Lyles also got under the skin of basketball fans this week, saying he didn't know who three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić was.
Lyles said Wednesday that of course he knows Jokić, the Denver Nuggets star, but that he was confused by a question about him because he knows him only by his nickname, "The Joker."
Elite sprinting almost seemed to be a given for Lyles, whose parents were track stars at Seton Hall. But if track hadn't been in the cards, he said, he probably would have been a soccer player — even if he were forced to cooperate with others.
"Oh, yeah, track and field was, like, my last sport. I loved baseball, soccer, basketball, gymnastics, swimming, a lot of sports," he said. "If I grew up in Europe, I'd be a soccer, a football, player. The speed, the agility and I'm able to adapt on the fly. And if I need to, I could easily be a team player."
