"I have put together the data to say that I can do it"- Noah Lyles reiterates on desire to break Usain Bolt's longstanding world record

Noah Lyles that he has decided on a particular timing to break Usai Bolt's 200m record.

The Jamaican clocked 19.19 seconds in the 200m event at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Lyles recorded his personal best of 19.31 seconds at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

The American has often stated his desire to surpass Bolt, and in a recent interview with World Athletics, he showed confidence in achieving the historic feat in the Olympic year.

Lyles said that he "put together" the idea of clocking 19.10 seconds in the 200m event in order to believe that he could do it.

"In the 200m, I have the idea of 19.10 just crossing in my head and I have put together the data to say that I can do it. So I still have that going on," Lyles said.

Further, the 26-year-old also shared his view that securing the Olympic victory comes with a responsibility and that winning the once-in-four-year title is similar to "borrowing."

"Even after this Olympics, now the way I see it is, when you win those titles, you are borrowing it, you are borrowing the title because you have to give it back at the end of four years. So in that time space, that I'm borrowing it, I want to show everybody what an Olympic champion can look like on the track and what he can look like off the track. I want to show that it's gonna boost people's idea of what can be shown," Lyles added.

Noah Lyles has won two events so far in 2024

Noah Lyles during the medal ceremony for the Men's 60 Metres Final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

Noah Lyles has had a tremendous indoor season so far in 2024. The American started the season at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, where he won the 60m event by clocking 6.44 seconds.

He then won another 60m event at the USATF Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, clocking 6.43 seconds, which was just ahead of Christian Coleman who took 6.44 seconds to finish the race.

Lyles then competed at the World Athletcis Indoor Championships in Glasgow where he qualified for the finals after clocking 6.57 seconds and 6.47 seconds in the heats and semifinals respectively. However, he was narrowly beaten by Christian Coleman in the final. Lyles clocked 6.44 seconds while Coleman clocked 6.43 seconds.