“I truly would like to take a shot at the world record” - After missing 200m gold at Paris Olympics, Noah Lyles shares ambitions for running the 400m

Noah Lyles is one of track and field's boldest personalities, and the revelation of his latest ambition after the Paris Olympics has left fans surprised. The American, a specialist in the 100 and 200m sprints, has stated that he feels he has a genuine chance at the 400m world record, were he to turn his focus to that event.

For most of his elite career, Lyles was zeroed in on the 200m run. He excelled in that event, winning the 2019, 2022, and 2023 World Championships, as well as the bronze at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. In 2023, the sprinter started exploring the shorter distance of 100m as well, and was an immediate hit, claiming the 2023 World Championships title, and a gold at the 2024 Olympics.

The 400m distance first came into Noah Lyles' radar in late 2023, when he announced that he hoped to run the 4x400m relay in Paris in a bid to claim four Olympic golds. While that dream didn't come true, the American is now seemingly toying with the idea of running a flat 400, and it's an event he thinks he would excel at.

In a recent appearance on the Nightcap Podcast hosted by Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson, the Olympic champion discussed his prospects in the 400m, comparing himself to training partner Jereem Richards and saying,

“Jereem Richards – he is a 19.80s 200m runner. And he decided that he was going to focus more on the 400m this year. He was in that (Olympic) final. He got fourth with 43.78s. New national record. I believe it’s in the top 10 all-time fastest times. My PR is 19.3s in the 200m. And I have some pretty good strength on me as well. I truly would like to take a shot at the world record if I decide to move to the 400m truly and give it my 100% for multiple years – yeah I’m going after the world record.”

Lyles reiterated that he could set a world record in the distance, saying his body would ‘adapt’.

“My brain understands it. My body doesn’t know the difference. Why would my body think that’s a hard time? My body don’t know that that’s hard. If I keep telling it to get faster and faster, it’s going to try and adapt. It’s going to keep moving toward that time.”

Noah Lyles' 400m performances

Noah Lyles' past 400m performances (Image Source: Getty)

While Noah Lyles may be confident of his abilities to breach the 400m world record with some time and dedicated training, he hasn't competed in the distance in over eight years now.

The last time Lyles ran a flat 400m in the competition was in 2016 when he clocked a personal best of 47.04s to win the Forestville McNamara Mustangs Invitational. For reference, the current 400m world record sits at 43.03s, set by South Africa's Wayde Van Niekerk at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Since 2016, Noah Lyles has raced the 4x400m relay twice, once at the Pepsi Florida Relays in 2023, and once at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in 2024. In the latter, he split a time of 45.68s, making him the fastest third leg of the race.