Noah Lyles eyes 2028 Olympic title defence after injury ends season

Noah Lyles wasn’t planning on playing ‘commentator’ ahead of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship.The reigning men’s Olympic 100m champion had been looking forward to joining the sport’s biggest stars at World Athletics’ new season-ending showpiece in Budapest, until injury forced him to end his season early.In a video call with reporters on Tuesday, Lyles grinned when he was asked a couple of times for his views on some of his rivals who will be in action this weekend. “Shoot, I usually focus more on myself than other people,” Lyles said in response to a question about his American compatriot Kenny Bednarek attempting the sprint double in Budapest. When the very next question was about what impression he had of some of the South African sprinters, the 29-year-old smiled again while going on to say, “I’m not here to be a commentator of sorts today. That’s not really my goal.”And then came a question about 2027. The conversation was about Noah Lyles once again. And the four-time 200m world champion was only too happy to look ahead to what he considers the ‘building blocks’ in his quest to defend his Olympic 100m crown on home soil in Los Angeles.“I am very excited for 2027. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Lyles said. “2027 is the building block for 2028. And let’s get that plan smooth and polished so that when we go into 2028, we’re just following the blueprint because we know it’s going to work.”Though he sustained his season-ending injury at the US nationals in July, Lyles managed to run two 9.7-second races at the event before the setback, leaving even himself a little ‘shocked’.“I don’t like to put limits on myself,” Lyles said. “In my head, American records definitely come in touching the stars, going after anything and everything. I think I kind of shocked myself a little bit by running those two 9.7s at the nationals because although I was prepared to run fast, I wasn’t prepared to do it then.“So it’s proven to myself that I can run very fast, even though I’m not 100% perfect with my first 30 (metres), which was a super exciting thing. So there’s a lot more to come for 2027 and 2028.”The competitive absence of Lyles is undoubtedly a blow to an event World Athletics has billed as ‘the best of the best’ with a record $10m prize purse on offer. But there’s still a lot on the programme to keep athletics fans hooked, the 1500m race in particular one of the event’s top attractions, seeing as it is set to reignite the rivalry between Great Britain’s Josh Kerr and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen.Ingebrigtsen’s recent criticism of Kerr for skipping the European Championships last month may well have added a layer of spice to their upcoming showdown. “Always under criticism,” Kerr, who clocked 3:42.66 in the mile at the London Diamond League in July to break Hicham El Guerrouj’s 27-year-old world record, said with a wry chuckle in response to his fierce rival’s comments.“Every person is different, and every athlete is different in the way that they approach the season. For me, the way that I approach it is circling two to four big dates and working my way around those and also to get in and out of a year without massive problems,” added the Scot, who won the 1500m gold at the 2023 world championships in Budapest.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.