The brouhaha between Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill took another step this week.
Lyles, fresh off sprinting to a gold medal in the 100 meters in the Olympics in Paris, said he’d accept Hill’s challenge to a race. But it would have to be the signature race often associated with being the fastest man on the planet — the 100 meters.
“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 said in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday.
“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.”
The public back and forth between Hill and Lyles started when the Dolphins wideout criticized the Olympian following comments in 2023 surrounding how American sports leagues shouldn’t deem their annual winners as “world champions.”
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“Noah Lyles can’t say nothing after what just happened to him,” Hill told Kay Adams in a previous interview on her podcast following Lyles’ bronze medal finish in the 200 meters, which he tested positive for Covid following the race. “Pretend like he’s sick, I feel like that’s horseradish. So for him to do that and say that we’re not world champions of our sport, come on, bruh. Just speak on what you know about, and that’s track.”
Then Hill offered the challenge after being asked what would happen if the two squared off in a 50-yard dash.
“I would beat Noah Lyles,” Hill said. “I wouldn’t beat him by a lot, but I would beat Noah Lyles.”
Enter Lyles’ comments from Wednesday.
The Olympic sprinter said he’d beat Hill in a shorter race, but Lyles made it clear it would have to be in the 100 meters or nothing.
“Again, I’m not here to do gimmicks,” Lyles said to NBC News. “You want to challenge me, ‘the world’s fastest man,’ if you want to challenge that, you have to challenge that in his event.”
In a previous interview on the “Nightcap” podcast with Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson, Lyles pointed to another NFL wide receiver know for his speed attempting to make a run at a spot in the Olympics — the Seahawks’ DK Metcalf. Lyles lauded Metcalf for attempting to prove his speed by racing in the 100 meters in an actual event.
“Any time someone fast comes up, he would try to race them. If he really wanted to race people, he would’ve showed up like DK Metcalf,” Lyles said. “The man (Hill) dodges smoke. I don’t got time for that. He’s challenging me. We’re racing in the 100, we can race. If he’s truly serious about it. If he’s truly serious about it, and I’m not talking about you’re just talking on the internet … you’ll see me on the track.”
In May 2021, Metcalf ran the 100-meter dash in 10.36 seconds at the USATF Golden Games and Distance Open in Walnut, Calif. It resulted in a ninth-place finish in his heat with his time being the third slowest of the 17 entrants.
To qualify for the Olympic Trials, Metcalf would’ve needed a time of 10.05 seconds with a legal tailwind of no more than two meters per second.
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https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5716627/2024/08/22/noah-lyles-tyreek-hill-race/
