Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles said Wednesday he’d be up for racing Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill — but only for 100 meters and under conditions set by the world’s fastest man.
Hill and the Olympic 100-meter champion have been beefing for days now after the Dolphins wideout 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.”
Wednesday’s comments marked the most detailed response yet from Lyles to Hill’s boast that he could beat the Olympic gold medalist.
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, the gold medalist insisted he’d only race 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 at the 100 and then bronze in what’s believed to be his better event, the 200 meter, after being 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 it Olympics, and then on top of that, be in your own backyard.”
Countless American athletes, across all sports, have said they were blown away by the enthusiasm of French fans and 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.”
The sprinter 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 earlier this week, saying he didn’t know who three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić was.
Lyles said Wednesday that, of course, he knows Jokić but was confused by a question about the Denver Nuggets star because he only knows him by his nickname “The Joker.”
Elite sprinting almost seemed to be a given for Lyles, whose parents were both track stars at Seton Hall. But if track weren’t in the cards for Lyles, the gold medalist said he probably would’ve been a soccer player — even if he was 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.”
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