Noah Lyles breaks silence on Olympic final loss to Letsile Tebogo: A failed strategy cost me not COVID

Letsile Tebogo and Noah Lyles following Olympic 200m final

Noah Lyles breaks silence on Olympic final loss to Letsile Tebogo: A failed strategy cost me not COVID

Funmilayo Fameso 21:02 - 04.09.2024

Following Olympic final loss to Letsile Tebogo, Noah Lyles has finally opened up how a failed strategy and not listening to his girlfriend Junelle Bromfield cost him not COVID.

Several weeks post-Paris Olympic Games, world's fastest man Noah Lyles has finally revealed the sole reason responsible for his 200m final loss to Letsile Tebogo.

The six-time world champion surprisingly succumbed to defeat in the Olympic 200m final, finishing behind Tebogo's blazing African Record of 19.46s and silver-medal-winning Kenny Bednarek in 19.62s as he settled for the bronze medal in 19.70s.

Letsile Tebogo defeated Noah Lyles for Olympic 200m title in Paris | Imago

His loss was one of the stunning upsets in Paris, considering days before he had won the gold medal in his weaker event (100m) and was unbeaten in the 200m in over two years.

Following his defeat, the USATF revealed that Lyles had tested positive for COVID two days before the final, which could have been a keen factor in his sub-par performance.

However, in a recent interview with Spun, Lyles opened up that running with COVID wasn't the main reason for not crossing the finish line first but rather a failed strategy which his girlfriend Junelle Bromfield tried to warn him about but he didn't listen.

He also disclosed that after the semifinal, where he finished second behind Tebogo, he had used up all his energy and had to change his running style.

“The strategy that we were going for was I was going to give all of my energy upfront because I didn’t know if it would come at the end. I knew from running in the semifinal that my top-end speed was no longer with me. You could say that COVID had it under hostage, but I wasn’t producing the top-end speeds I was normally producing in the last few weeks, which had been very high,” said Lyles.

Noah Lyles collapsed on the track after the Olympic 200m final before his COVID status was confirmed

“I was trying to rely on how fast I could get up to top speed and my ability to be able to hold top speed. It got me the bronze medal but it wasn’t enough for me to do better. Now my girlfriend has said many times that I’m never allowed to use that strategy again and I’m in full belief with her that I will never use that strategy again,” he added.

“Looking back, it’s not normally my race strategy. My normal race strategy is a lot more timed and paced, and it’s actually the same strategy I used back in Tokyo (in the 2020 200m final) and it got me the same result,” he concluded.

Despite being a three-time world 200m champion (2019, 2022, 2023) and having the third-fastest time in history (19.31s), Lyles is yet to win an Olympic gold in the event and can only boast of back-to-back bronze medals (Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024).

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