"I had a dream I'm gonna run 9.41 and God has gifted me prophecy" - When Noah Lyles opened up on breaking Usain Bolt's 100m WR

Reigning Olympic and World champion Noah Lyles once expressed his belief that he could break Jamaican legend Usain Bolt's iconic 100m world record of 9.58 seconds, noting that he had even dreamt of running a 9.41s split.

Lyles captured both the 100m and 200m world titles last year while clocking a world-leading time in the latter category. Following that, the Florida native claimed the 100-meter gold medal at this year's Paris Olympics, where he secured victory in a dramatic photo finish over Jamaican Kishane Thomson with a time of 9.79 seconds. Shortly after, he tested positive for COVID-19 just ahead of his big 200m finals, but despite the setback, he still managed to secure a bronze medal with a time of 19.70 seconds.

With both the World Championship and Olympic titles under his belt, Noah Lyles earned the tag of the 'fastest man in the world,'. Staying true to that label, the 27-year-old once confidently stated during a conversation with Brandon Marshall on an episode of Paper Route for the I Am Athlete YouTube channel that he plans to break Usain Bolt's 9.58-second 100m world record. The Jamaican icon had set the record at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin.

"I had a dream that I'm going to run 9.41, and God has gifted me with the power of prophecy, so I know that that's going to come true. I'm sorry every dream I've ever had has come true, I just if God has given me, who am I?" Lyles said. [1:00:00 onwards]

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Usain Bolt's take on Noah Lyles' aspiration to break his WR - "If he break the world record, I'm not gonna be happy"

Noah Lyles at the Olympic Games-Paris 2024 (Source: Getty)

During his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ahead of the Paris Olympics, Noah Lyles was shown a clip from the Netflix documentary Sprint where Usain Bolt addressed the possibility of Lyles breaking his WR. The former Olympian acknowledged that records are meant to be broken, but that it would make him unhappy if Lyles were to surpass them.

"Noah Lyles is a great athlete. He's full of energy, mentally he's very strong. He believes in himself, but if he break the world record, I'm not gonna be happy. Records are meant to be broken. I wish him all the best, but it's not gonna be easy." [5:21 onwards]

Although Lyles has yet to surpass the Jamaican star's 100m record, he has managed to break another of Bolt's records of achieving the most sub-20 finishes in the 200m event.