“There can be no more complaints or excuses that track 'needs more personalities'” - Michael Johnson on Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson’s win

Legendary track and field athlete Michael Johnson has recently praised Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson for their stunning win at the 100m in the 2023 World Athletics Championships. Congratulating them, Johnson also suggested that their win would turn out to be a highly influential aspect of the track and field world.

On Day 2 of the ongoing world championships, American athlete Noah Lyles won his first-ever gold medal in the men’s 100m event. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist clocked an impressive 9.83s at the recent championship, running the fastest 100m in his career so far.

On the other hand, 23-year-old Sha’Carri Richardson made a solid comeback in the track and field world, winning her first world championship in the women’s 100m race. The American sprinter ran a stunning 10.65s over Jamaica's Shericka Jackson and five-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Nevertheless, with that timing, Richardson entered the list of the top 5 fastest female 100m runners in history.

Indeed, their win was a proud moment for the track and field world. Michael Johnson shared a post on Twitter highlighting a unique aspect of their win. Sharing their pictures, he expressed that both Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson hold dynamic personalities. It could therefore help in increasing the popularity of the sport. Johnson wrote in his post,

"There can be no more complaints or excuses that track 'needs more personalities' Two of the most dynamic individuals in the sport are now the world’s fastest!"

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Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles’s journey to the 2023 World Athletics Championships

Noah Lyles at Day 5 of World Athletics Championships, Budapest 2023

Both Richardson and Lyles’s athletic journeys are worth knowing. Before the 2023 world championships, Noah Lyles was a two-time champion in the 200m race. His fastest timing was 19.31s and he has a target to clock 19.10s and beat Usain Bolt’s record at the ongoing event. His win in the 100m race was a surprise package as it was not really his absolute target. Lyles said in an interview with NBC Sports, ahead of the championship,

“What I will accept is grabbing a medal in the 100m, whatever color, and winning the 200m.”

Sha’Carri Richardson’s journey was filled with downs considering her athletic run in 2021 and 2022. The athlete was disqualified from the 2021 Olympics after failing the doping test. She reasoned that she had consumed drugs to cope with her biological mother’s death.

Then again, in 2022, when Richardson made a comeback, she was unable to qualify in the 100m and 200m races for the finals in the USATF Outdoor Championships. However, this year, evidently, the athlete has been unstoppable, winning and setting records for herself.