KINGSTON, Jamaica — World Athletics Championships men’s sprint-double champion, Noah Lyles of the United States, has doubled down on his claim of the “fastest man alive” title.

In a bid to clarify his claim to the title, Lyles, who has been called “the fastest man alive” in portions of the American media and on social media, says he and his teammate Sha’Carri Richardson have been labelled ‘fastest woman and man,’ as the honors are awarded annually to the winners of the 100m at the World Championships.

“I won the men’s 100m at the 2023 World Championships and Sha’Carri won the women’s,” Lyles said in a recent social media post, also indicating that in claiming the ‘fastest man’ title, there was no intention to “disrespect or discredit past records or times set in the new season,” outlining that “this is simply how the title is determined.”

Lyles, who is a medal favourite in both the men’s 100m and 200m at the Paris Olympics, further stated that “if another male or female wins the 100m at this year’s World Championships, they will assume the title,” adding that “I hope this clarifies the matter for those who had questions.”

Lyles, who ran his lifetime best of 9.81 seconds at the London Diamond League a week ago, is ranked number three in the world behind Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who ran 9.77 seconds to win the event at the Jamaican National Championships last month, and Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, who ran 9.79 seconds to win at the Kenyan Championships.

Richardson leads the women’s rankings after she ran 10.71 seconds to win the women’s 100m at the American championships.