USA sprinter Noah Lyles played down the likelihood of rain in Zurich ahead of the Diamond League being a factor in his latest matchup against Letsile Tebogo on Thursday. “I don’t think the rain specifically is a disadvantage or an advantage,” said Lyles. “If you keep your mind straight, you’ll be fine,” he added.
In Lausanne previously, Lyles stumbled out of the blocks, allowing fellow competition Oblique Seville to race away to a win in 9.87s. Lyles, who clocked just outside of 10s, spoke about the race and said, “I had a bad start, I had a bad reaction, that’s really what I chalk up that race to.”
“I wouldn’t say the rain was something that hindered it all that much, and that is proved by the fact Oblique ran a great time. So you can obviously run fast times in the rain, just getting your mindset prepared, and saying, ‘Hey, this is what we all got to deal with, that’s really what it’s about’,” he added.
Lyles’ brazenness has inflamed many of his rival sprinters. But none of those rivalries seem to be reaching the crescendo that his battles with Letsile Tebogo are.
Lyles, who was dealing with Covid, was not able to retain his status as the best 200m sprinter in the world after only being able to take the bronze at the 2024 Paris Games.
But ahead of the Diamond League, he complimented Tebogo on his versatility, saying that the Paris Olympic 200m gold medallist could easily run in any event from the 100m to the 400m.
“There’s not a lot of people who go from the 100m to the 400 or even 100m to the 300. From 2007-15 there were a lot more (athletes competing in sprint) doubles, and then they kind of drifted off. Now you can see a resurgence with Letsile being one of those people,” said Lyles.
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