There is a thread about how Lyles nearly cost himself a spot in the final with his decision to shut down without paying attention in the semi last night, but he ended up making it fairly easily on time. However, how about the ramifications of that and what it means to his chances for tonight in Tokyo. Here is what that mistake means...
Lyles now gets lane 3 in the final and if you pay attention to the DL and his races you know he always requests either lane 6 or 7. This is because Noah isn't a great starter and not running such a tight curve helps mitigate that. It also helps because he keeps the field (and better starters) predominantly behind him in the first 50m which stops him from panicking and trying to keep up. So by the time he hits top gear (around 110 to go), he basically has parity with the field and can use the strength of his race (relaxation and extension in the final 80m) to dominate as he has done on the circuit.
Well this is all gone now. He get's lane 3 - has the fastest starter in the field Aaron Brown right outside of him in lane 4 and the worst part of all this - had he beaten Fahnbulleh into even second, guess which lane he would have - lane 7.
Lyles just looks in a funny place. DeGrasse, Bednarek and even Knighton look like they are all business out there and yes we all know Noah's personality and the anime/cartoon stuff, but it appears more like a front at the moment and not natural as it has done in the past. Any coincidence that he then made this epic lapse in concentration in that semi? He only needed to turn his head like everyone else was doing and see where those guys were and this would have all been avoided. People are up for the Olympics - after a couple of seasons of this being all too easy for him, his competitors are beating down the door and you hate to say it, but it looks like he is cracking.
We will see what happens tonight. Prediction:
1) DeGrasse
2) Bednarek
3) Lyles