After witnessing the longevity of Jamaican sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, America’s Olympic champion Noah Lyles believes he has more than enough time to break Usain Bolt’s world records.

At the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, Lyles claimed his first Olympic gold medal by winning the men’s 100m ahead of Jamaica’s rising sprint star Kishane Thompson. However, his personal best time of 9.79 seconds was well short of Bolt’s world record 9.58, set at the Berlin World Championships in 2009, as well as his Olympic record of 9.63, done at the 2012 London Olympics.

The 27-year-old Lyles, in a number of interviews, says he plans to break the 100m and 200m world records and dethrone Bolt as the fastest man alive. Although Bolt clocked the world record before the age of 23, Lyles says he’s taken inspiration from Fraser-Pryce who has been a dominant force for close to two decades.

Fraser-Pryce, who turned 38 on Friday, became the third fastest woman in history in 2021 when she clocked 10.60 in the 100m at age 34. That same year, she also recorded a personal best of 21.79 in the 200m.

Since turning 30, she’s won several global medals including gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the World Championships in 2019 and 2022.

Lyles says Fraser-Pryce’s example has given him the belief he needs to challenge Bolt’s records.

“They used to say it was around 30 [when a sprinter reaches their peak] but with technology now, it’s more like 35,” he said on his Beyond the Records podcast with fellow American 400m hurdles star Rai Benjamin.

“But then you’ve got people like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at [age] 36, 37 [still at the top of the sport]. I’ve just reached what they consider peak fitness. So 26 through 31 [to] 32 is what they consider to be peak.”

Lyles, though, has proven to be Bolt’s closest challenger to the 200m record in recent times with his impressive 19.31 to win the World Championships gold in 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.

While admitting it will be difficult, he says he has the potential to do it.

“I’m the world’s fastest man [currently], you get it with the title of being the Olympic champion. Technically, the world’s fastest man, and the fastest man alive, is Usain Bolt. I’m knocking on the door of the 200m. If it was that easy, I’d have done it five years ago,” said Lyles.

“I’m the fastest American to ever live, so I have the American record, like Rai [Benjamin, who joined him on the podcast] in the 400m hurdles, which is pretty cool. We’re just constantly getting closer to breaking world records,” he added.

Lyles will be aiming to defend his world titles at the World Athletic Championships in Tokyo in September.