"No one was being conservative"- Justin Gatlin weighs in on Noah Lyles vs Letsile Tebogo and competing in the 200m for World Championships

Justin Gatlin expressed his thoughts on the recent face-off between Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo at the Diamond League Finals in Zurich. The two athletes went head-to-head once again and put forward an incredible performance in the men's 200m, with the race ending in a photo finish.

Letsile Tebogo registered a strong start and stormed off the curve with great momentum into the final stretch. On the other hand, Noah Lyles struggled in the initial moments of the race and put forward a strong finish to clinch the gold medal with a performance of 19.74s. Tebogo finished second after clocking 19.76s.

Justin Gatlin spoke about their performance in the Diamond League Finals and lauded the two athletes for putting forward a great effort. According to Gatlin, they weren't being conservative in the race before the World Championships; instead, they stuck to their strategy and executed the race to the best of their abilities.

" Other competitors who are sitting in the waiting and watching his race, you see Tebogo and Noah ran that race, they weren't conservative. Tebogo knew the strategy he had to get out. He had separation, and it became a dog fight with 50 m to go; they both were trying for position, and it came down to a photo finish. That means they were giving real honest effort to be able to get this w. No one was being conservative. They're trying to go out there," he said.

Moreover, he weighed in on the current set of athletes who will be competing in the 200m at the upcoming World Championships and shared how many athletes have put forward incredible times in the 2025 season.

"But you can't count all the people who were waiting on the wings. Obviously, you have people like Bryan Levell, Kenny Bednarek, Zharnel Hughes, Courtney Lindsey, all these guys have respectfully run really fast times this season, and they aren't really burnt out. They're getting ready for the World Championships," he added.

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Justin Gatlin on Noah Lyles close competition with Kishane Thompson at the World Championships

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Justin Gatlin spoke about Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson going head-to-head in the men's 100m at the upcoming World Championships. The American athlete shared that Lyles holds a little advantage in the finishing part of the race; however, Kishane Thompson has a very well-balanced race approach with a strong start and a dominant drive phase.

Gatlin lauded Thompson's ability to hold his top-end speed till the end of the race

"When you watch the men's 100m, Kishane looks great, his turnover is amazing, gets off the blocks really well. Kishane does a great job at the middle part of his 100m. Once he gets into that top-end speed, he holds the top-end speed. Now, that's a gift and a curse, you hold that speed with guys who are progressively getting faster, like a Noah Lyles and you see how Noah closes very fast in that last couple of meters," he said.

The American athlete shared that Thompson should be working on his finish in order to have a separation from Noah Lyles towards the end of the race.