By Matt Nelsen, July 18, 2024.

**Lightning never strikes the same place twice**, so says the idiom. At least, it never did until **Usain Bolt** flashed across the track and struck double gold at the **Olympic Games Beijing 2008**. The eight-time Olympic champion and double world record holder from Jamaica announced his arrival to the world with great fanfare, securing back-to-back victories and better yet, back-to-back world records in the men’s 100 meters (9.69 seconds) and 200 meters (19.30 seconds). Those marks would not stand long, as Bolt clocked 9.58 seconds in the 100 meters and 19.19 seconds in the 200 meters at the **2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany**. While his reign over the sprints would last another seven years, his marks would prove unbeatable. When he hung up his spikes in 2017, he left a large zigzag-shaped hole over the men’s sprints.

Numerous athletes attempted to fill it, but none succeeded. Enter **Noah Lyles**. Lyles rose to prominence just as Bolt was leaving the sport. He won his first Diamond League meet in 2017, his first outdoor World Championship gold in 2019, and his first Olympic medal—bronze in the men’s 200m—at the **Olympic Games Tokyo 2020**. He continued to establish himself as the next great sprinter, clocking 19.31 in the 200 meters at the **2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon**, putting himself third on the all-time leaderboard in the event.

Now, as the newly crowned “fastest man in the world,” a title he claimed by winning the 100m and 200m at the **2023 World Athletics Championships**, he’s ready to chase the impossible at **Olympic Games Paris 2024**: striking faster than lightning.

While he has accomplished a lot in athletics, Noah Lyles remains resolute in his desire to be the greatest there ever was at sprinting. “I think when everybody gets to the top, they start to realize, ‘What do I have to do to be considered the greatest when I leave the sport?’” said Lyles, after storming to victory in the 200 meters at the **US Olympic Team Trials 2024**. “Grabbing a world record is one of two things that I still have left to do: one being grabbing an Olympic gold, and then, two, grabbing a world record.” Lyles will have his work cut out for him at Paris 2024. He’ll need to defeat the likes of **Tokyo 2020 Olympic champions Marcell Jacobs and Andre De Grasse**, Jamaican hopefuls **Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville**, Africa’s rising stars **Ferdinand Omanyala and Letsile Tebogo**, and American teammates **Kenny Bednarek and Fred Kerley** if he wants to cross the first item off his to-do list. He’ll then need to win in historic fashion, clocking a time faster than 9.58 seconds in the men’s 100m or 19.19 seconds in the 200m**, if he wants to cross the second item off his to-do list¹.

In his own words, Lyles has the mantra for Bolt-like success. He claims to possess the essential ingredients to raise track and field’s prominence in the US and smash milestones alike. “I have the personality, I have the speed, I have the showmanship,” Lyles says. “I have the marketing mindset. I’m willing to be uncomfortable.” Unlike Bolt, who has now retired, Lyles is determined to make his own mark on the sport². While much of the focus will be on his quest for gold and pursuit of Bolt’s world records, Lyles has even bigger goals for himself and athletics as a whole.

Is Noah Lyles faster than Usain Bolt? In short: No. Bolt still holds the world records for both the 100m (9.58) and the 200m (19.19). Lyles set a target time of 19.10 for Worlds in 2023, falling short of that time in Budapest, clocking a 19.52 in the final⁵. However, Lyles aims to push athletics forward, even beyond world records. His determination and hunger for greatness make him a force to be reckoned with on the track, and the world watches eagerly as he chases lightning itself.