Well, that didn’t last long. In early May, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill challenged Olympic Gold Medalist Noah Lyles to a race. It sparked some trash talk amongst the two men and they were supposed to face off this weekend in Times Square.
That won’t be happening now, according to Lyles, due to “personal reasons.”
“We were very deep into creating the event,” Lyles told reporters in France on Monday. “In fact, it was supposed to happen this weekend.
“Unfortunately, there were some things, complications, personal reasons that it just didn’t come to pass, but we were full on. We were going to shut down New York’s Times Square and everything, it was going to be a lot of fun.”
The 60-meter sprint would surely have drawn a lot of attention – including from sponsors. Could an NFL player really beat an Olympic sprint champion?
Hill was a two-time state track champion in high school and ran a 100-meter prelim time of 10.15 seconds in Sherman Oaks last Friday. He poked Lyles a bit by holding up a hand-written sign that said, “Noah Could Never.”
Meanwhile, Lyles is considered to be the fastest man in the world, running the 100-meters in 9.784 seconds at the 2024 Paris Games, which was a personal best. Their two times may seem close, but in track & field it might as well be an hour.
Many people assumed the race would never happen
The talk of a race has been bubbling for some time. Back on Valentine’s Day of this year, Lyles insisted that he would indeed race Hill.
“A lot of people didn’t believe it to be true. They thought it was just, ‘Oh, this is just them talking online,’” Lyles said. “We had to bring it to fruition.”
Lyles went on to say that most people “didn’t believe it was real,” but said he was bound to make happen.
“It’s like, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this. I know what to do. And it’s not going to look to the point where it’s staged. It’s going to look right on the money, trust me,’” Lyles continued.
Well, apparently it was going to happen…until it didn’t.
Michael Johnson says Tyreek wouldn’t stand a chance
Most track stars don’t like it when professional athletes from other sports think they are faster than guys whose lone job is to be fast. Count four-time Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Johnson among them. Johnson said on the Rich Eisen Show that being fast for the NFL is not the same as being fast on a track.
“If it’s a track meet, if it’s a track race, if it’s 100 meters, that’s not a race,” Johnson said defiantly on The Rich Eisen Show. “Tyreek can’t beat the 20th, 30th-ranked 100 meter runner in the world.”
Watch:
Don’t expect the talk to die down, even if the race isn’t happening this weekend. Hill loves to joke and play around and it’s doubtful that the man considered the fastest in the world will back down. Even if it’s just trash talk…for now.
