AFTER setting the National Stadium alight in 2023, six-time world champion Noah Lyles says he’s looking to lay down a marker again ahead of the Paris Olympics when he lines up in the men’s 100m at the Racers Grand Prix this evening at the National Stadium.

The 26-year-old has become arguably one of the biggest names in the sport after dominating the sprints over the last two years. After claiming bronze in the 200m at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 the American has not lost an outdoor individual event at a major championships, winning back-to-back gold in the 200m at the World Athletics Championships in 2022 and 2023, and setting a personal best of 19.31 seconds — the fourth fastest time in history. Lyles also won 100m gold for the first time at last year’s championships in Budapest.

Lyles ran the 200m at Racers GP last year, clocking 19.67 for victory, which was the second-fastest time ever at the National Stadium.

He now switches focus to the shorter sprint this year but has only run twice in the 100m this season with his season’s best of 9.96 seconds set in Bermuda in April. However, after a dominant indoor 60m season where he won six of his seven races, Lyles believes he can not only better his personal best of 9.83 seconds but break the National Stadium record of 9.75 done by former World Champion Yohan Blake in 2012.

“This year we’ve put a lot of the same emphasis on strength and seeing a lot of progression paid back in the 100m, especially in the first 60m. Knowing that we’ve put together more consistent starts, more consistent top ends, and our practices have been really good,” he said.

“I was at the Adidas Atlanta City Games; I’ve been seeing Tyson Gay level practices and I was able to prove that by tying the American record in the 150m (14.41 seconds), so I’d say I’m still in that shape and progressing more and more. I’d love to see a PR [personal record] tomorrow, and the times I’ve been seeing suggests I’ll [run a] PR tomorrow. What’s the stadium record, 9.75? Let’s go after at that, why not? Shoot for the stars, aim for the moon!”

Lyles is expected to face competition from Jamaican sprint star Oblique Seville as well as Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes and Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala.

Though impressed with Seville and other rising stars from Jamaica, Lyles says he has no fear whatsoever heading into the race and the Olympics.

“I’m a firm believer in iron sharpens iron — when one person is doing well it’s going to inspire others to step up. The more competition I get to face, the better I get so I say whoever wants to run, let’s run. I’m not the type of guy that says: ‘I don’t want to run til I’m ready.’ No. I’m the type of guy who says I want to race you when I’m good, when I’m bad, and whatever comes out of it I’ll take that and move it on to the next one so I know when I get to the championships it’s going to be me every time,” said Lyles.

In August Lyles will not only be looking for his first Olympic gold medal but also hopes to break the 100m and 200m records, set by Jamaican legend Usain Bolt in 2009.

Though confident he can pull it off, he says coming out victorious in the sprints is his main objective.

“Every day it’s in the back of my mind, every day I train as if I’m getting closer and closer because every year I get closer and closer. Especially this year, we’ve made a lot of headway in our 100m training and I’m very eager to show how much headway we’ve made on Saturday because it’s been consistent. It’s one thing when you get it once or twice in practice but we’ve been seeing it happen week after week, run after run, and I believe the 150 proved that we’ve been making progress on the 100 and 200,” he said.

“Of course, the world record is always going to be on the back of my mind but Olympic gold [medals] are Olympic gold medals] — nobody can take that away from you.”