Noah Lyles played 'hard to get' when girlfriend Junelle Bromfield slid into his DMs for the first time

While Noah Lyles and Junelle Bromfield’s relationship came to the fore at the 2023 World Championships, the couple had been texting each other since 2017. It was the Jamaican who texted first, but Noah Lyles hadn't shown much of an interest back then.

Lyles and Bromfield’s relationship became public at the 2023 World Championships when the latter was seen cheering for the American in the stands. Later when the world champion won the 100m and 200m gold medals, he ran up in excitement to Bromfield. However, they hadn't committed back then.

Speaking on Asafa Powell's podcast ‘The Powells’, the couple opened up about their relationship and revealed how they had met for the first time. Junelle Bromfield had slid into Lyles' DMs on Instagram in 2017, but the latter played ‘hard to get’ because of lack of interest.

‘I'm very defensive. I'm young to the scene and I'm over here thinking as she puts it, I just broke the 300m indoor World Record, I can't be just giving my number out to nobody,” Lyles revealed. [3:54]

As Noah Lyles revealed the story, Asafa Powell claimed the American had played ‘hard to get’, to which the couple started laughing. Continuing his story, the fastest American sprinter added that they exchanged numbers after a few weeks of ‘chitchatting’.

While both the sprinters had started liking each other, they couldn't meet due to their training schedules. They couldn't meet at any track meet either. A year later, the two decided to commit and finally go out on a date. However, when they did, ‘it just didn't click’, claimed Lyles.

---

“Let's just be friends”- Noah Lyles and Junelle Bromfield after their first date ‘didn't click’

2024 USATF NYC Grand Prix

It was Junelle Bromfield who flew from Jamaica to meet Noah Lyles in Florida, USA in 2018. However, when the American picked her up at the airport, he claimed the Jamaican was ‘dead silent’.

“We commit to this date and she comes by and it just didn't click” [5:53]

“I pick her up in my car, I'm excited. I pick her up at the Airport. Dead silent. No words. No talk,” he added. [6:07]

Both of them mutually decided later that they were ‘just going to be friends’. The two continued texting each other on and off before Lyles committed to a relationship with another girl. After he broke up at the start of 2022, he and Bromfield got back to talking because both of them knew they liked each other.

They eventually went on their second date in February 2022, and it started working this time around, although slowly. A year later, Noah Lyles proposed to Junelle Bromfield at the Commonwealth Games after his heroics at the 2023 World Championships. Now, the couple could be very near to marrying each other.