Noah Lyles has the speed to back up his confidence.
The American sprinter had all but guaranteed victory in the lead up to the world championships, saying he was aiming to win in record-breaking fashion. He even made a social media post predicting the times he'd run in the 100 and 200 meters.
"I will run 9.65 19.10," he posted on Aug. 10.
He was a few tenths of a second off on each, but he still took gold in each event. The 26-year-old Lyles won his third-straight 200m on Friday, finishing with a time of 19.52 seconds. He became the first men's sprinter since Usain Bolt in 2015 to threepeat in the event, although he was unable to top the Jamaican star's world record of 19.19 seconds.
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Lyles easily pulled away from a field that had a combined average best time of 19.66 seconds, giving him double gold after winning the 100m on Sunday in 9.83 seconds.
Fellow American, 19-year-old Erriyon Knighton, took silver with a time of 19.75. Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo came in third at 19.81 seconds.
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Lyles became the first American to win three-straight 200m world titles since Tyson Gay in 2007.
Lyles, during the 2022 world championships, broke Michael Johnson's 26-year American record in the 200 meters with a time of 19.31 seconds. It was the third-fastest time in history, trailing Bolt's record time set in the 2009 world championships and Jamaica's Yohan Blake, who ran a 19.26 in 2011.
Entering the 2023 competition, Lyles was looking to rewrite the world-record book.
"I'm going for a little more than some victories," Lyles told the TODAY show. "There's a few world records that I've had my eye on for quite a while now. After having such a great improvement in the 100, I'm almost certain that it's coming in the 200."
Lyles easily advanced to the final with a time of 19.76 seconds, even after his race was delayed when the golf cart transporting him and other runners from the warmup track to the stadium struck another cart.
The 200m bronze-medal winner at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 then further cemented his status as the current fastest man in the world by cruising to yet another victory on Friday.
Lyles, whose docuseries “Untitled: The Noah Lyles Project,” premiered on Peacock ahead of the world championships, will compete in the 4x100m relay on Saturday. He's seeking to become the first American to capture three golds at a single world championships since Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix in 2007.
