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American sprint legend Michael Johnson and Fred Kerley have differed over the decision to include Noah Lyles in the US 4x400m relay team at the World Indoor Championships.
US sprint legend Michael Johnson and former world 100m champion Fred Kerley have given varying opinions over Noah Lyles’ inclusion into the US men’s 4x400m relay team at the World Indoor Championships.
Lyles, who has expressed an interest in running the 400m besides 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay at the Paris Olympics was part of team USA’s 4x400m relay team that won silver in Glasgow on Sunday but that did not go down well with Kerley.
Kerley feels Lyles has zero experience and should not have been included in the team at the expense of 400m specialists like him and Kenny Bednarek who have previously expressed an interest in running the 4x400m relays at the 2023 World Championships and the Paris 2024 Olympics but were rejected.
“Man, I tell you last 3 years we (have) been asking to be in that ish f**k that Olympic storyline sh*t y'all puppets no in between either,” an angry Kerley posted on X (Twitter) on Sunday.
“US Track and Field y’all play that favoritism like mf. Y'all like puppets. For sure yes man,” he added in another post.
However, Johnson a former 400m record holder and Olympic champion, thinks it was wise to have Lyles in the race as it would not only give him experience ahead of the Paris Games but also help the US 400m team which he termed ‘weak.’
“US putting Noah on the 4x400 relay makes sense. US Indoor 400 team is weak. No finalist in the open 400. Noah has expressed a desire to run both relays in Paris. This is an opportunity for him to prove if he deserves it,” Johnson posted on the same platform.
It was the second silver medal for Lyles at the World Indoor Championships after his second-place finish in the 60m dash as he joined Jacory Paterson, Mathew Boling, and Christopher Bailey for Sunday’s final.
Lyles will be the man to beat in the 100m and 200m at the Paris Olympics, where Kerley will be among those out to upstage him, but it remains to be seen if he will feature in four races in what will be a grueling schedule that also includes a world record attempt in the half-lap race.
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