Noah Lyles just completed the best 200m season in history!

Sprintgeezer wrote:

Awesome but not as wrote:

He’s awesome but not awesome enough to be awesome at either 100m or 400m and respective relay duties as were bolt and Johnson. Johnson held 400m and 200m world records during his reign. And bolt held and still holds 100m and 200m world records. Lyles will never get a world record. Beautiful sprinter though and he was clearly the best at 200m in 2022.

Never say never, especially in the 200.

This was a real breakout year for Lyles, where he solidified himself at 19.5--and because of that, 19.5 is now the springboard from which he can leap, hence the 19.3

19.19 is not insurmountable. Heck, Flake would have beaten it had he not fallen asleep in the blocks. The fact that Dolt and Flake existed at exactly the same time tell you that 9.58/19.19 is not as rarefied as you would think. Flake has the time-of-flight 200m WR, and was only 0.07 basic off the 100m WR. Sub-19.19 has been proven to be possible.

The bend is insanely important in the 200, and Lyles has finally figured out how to run it better, with a new coach, I think. Better, but not yet perfectly, and that is where he can gain some time. Really, all he needs is a tenth, and some decent wind.

He is reported to be concentrating more on the 100 next year, and who knows, it might work for him. If he can learn the turn, he can also learn a start. His 100m start has always had room for improvement, so we will see. Never say never, we could see 9.7 from him next year. Look at Kerley.

But I think if he focuses on the 100, his 200 will suffer, because you really need to do turn repeats to become consistent and comfortable at it. The balance has to come naturally, if you have to think about it and apply effort, you are sunk.

So if he goes for the 100 next year, IMO he doesn't get the 200 WR. If he sticks with the 2, he has a shot.