"I wasn't planning to go to Prefontaine... I was like nobody wants to see a 3rd place guy" - Noah Lyles recalls the turning point of his career

Reigning Olympic and World Champion Noah Lyles recently opened up on the turning point in his career following his third-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics. He is now a six-time world champion and three-time Olympic medalist.

In his latest track appearance, the Florida native made history at the Paris Olympics in August when he defeated Jamaica's Kishane Thompson in a photo finish to win the 100m Olympic gold, the first of his career.

He blazed through the Stade de France and clocked 9.79 seconds to secure the gold. The American runner also went on to win a bronze in the 200m event despite testing positive for COVID-19 before the race.

However, Noah Lyles' first Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 didn't go as expected, as he was considered a favorite to win the 200m event, but could only manage a bronze. He recently opened up about that race during an interview with USA Track and Field on YouTube.

Lyles said that he "wasn't happy" with the result and was even skeptical about participating in the Prefontaine Classic afterward. However, it was his therapist who encouraged him to participate in the event, where he ran one of the fastest 200m races of his career, clocking 19.50 seconds.

"About a week before the Prefontaine, I get on the call with my sports therapist, and she said you need to pick yourself up and stop beating around the bush," he said. "You need to get up and go to Prefontaine because I wasn't planning to go to Prefontaine. I was like, I don't want to see them guy. You know nobody's going to want to see me. You know the third-place guy. They got everybody they need." [6:30 onwards]

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Noah Lyles discusses his future plans after wrapping up the 2024 season

Noah Lyles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Image via Getty)

Noah Lyles called it a day on his 2024 season after the Paris Olympics campaign. However, the 27-year-old American sprinter is working on the upcoming projects for the next season and has some major opportunities lined up.

"I’m done with the Olympics and I’m done racing for the season, but a few things have come up on my desk that makes me believe a very big competition will be happening sometime around March or April," Lyles told The Spun.

"A very unconventional project. We still don’t have all the details but so far it’s going very well. Maybe news about it will happen towards the beginning of October," he added.

Noah Lyles also discussed not participating in the Diamond League meets after the Paris Olympics and attributed it to testing positive for COVID-19.