Justin Gatlin makes his feelings clear on Noah Lyles' 'slow' 60m season opener 

Justin Gatlin expressed his thoughts on Noah Lyles' slower 2025 season opener compared to the last season. The American sprinter raced for the first time since the Paris Olympics last week at the RADD Invitational in Gainesville.

Lyles opened his season last year a little later than this year and clocked an impressive 6.44s at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. However, he failed to even cross the 6.6s mark last week in Gainesville but did enough to win in 6.62s.

Gatlin weighed in on Lyles' race in a recent episode of 'Ready Set Go' podcast and said he wasn't concerned about the sprinter's indoor season.

"I'm not too concerned about Noah indoors because even last year, I think he opened up even slower than he did this season but one thing you do see from Noah is the fact that he's still working on his race pattern at that 20-meter mark like you said it's the Noah show," Justin Gatlin said

The former 100m Olympic champion pointed out that Lyles was starting to dominate the races from the halfway mark last year, but is now trying to up the ante earlier in an attempt to improve his 100m start.

"If you go back and look at his older races from past seasons he didn't become the Noah Lyles show until about halfway through the 60. I mean he’s able to use his top-end speed to kind of life take control of the race," Gatlin added. "So I think he's using the 60 meters to be able to work on getting into the race quicker and commanding the race early and that's going to help him have a solid strategy for being a bonafide 100m runner."

Lyles has extensively shifted his focus to the 100m in recent years and has now made a name for himself in the event, winning both the World and Olympic titles.

The American's secret to success lies in his top-end speed, which has allowed him to run down some of the fastest starters in the world but Gatlin believes he is trying to improve his start to leave a legacy for himself in the 100m sprint.

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"It's a gamble for him" - Justin Gatlin explains why Noah Lyles can't risk a bad start in 100m

Los Angeles Rams v Arizona Cardinals - Noah Lyles in attendance (Source: Getty)

Speaking during the aforementioned podcast, Justin Gatlin claimed that it would be a gamble for Noah Lyles if he has a bad start going into the 2025 season.

"It's a gamble for him if he has a bad start you know in a 100m especially going into this season you can't run everybody down all the time," he said

While the former 100m world record holder acknowledged Lyles' famed top-end speed, he opined that the reigning champion doesn't want to risk having a bad start and was thereby working to start dominating the races earlier in the 60m.

"He does a very good job and he does it at a high level, his percentage is High but when it counts the most, you don't wanna have a bad start. So he's working on his race pattern and he knows that 20 meters is the mark where he needs to be dominating the race and moving away from the field, that's what he's doing now," Gatlin added

Noah Lyles will now be in action at the New Balance Grand Prix on February 1 to defend his 60m title against Marcell Jacobs and Trayvonn Brommell.