Olympic Sprinters Noah Lyles, Fred Kerley Argue Who’s Faster Before World Championships

The World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary start on Saturday, and American sprinters Noah Lyles and Fred Kerley previewed their competition with some bold claims on Friday.

On Aug. 10, Lyles said on his Instagram that he was going to run a 9.65 in the 100m, and a 19.10 in the 200m.

The first mark would give Lyles the fourth-fastest time in the men's 100m, behind only Usain Bolt — who ran the 100m in 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Championships, and in 9.63 seconds at the 2012 Olympics. The second mark, though, would set a new men's 200m world record, as Bolt is atop that mountain with his 19.19 second-performance at the 2009 World Championships.

Lyles is the defending 200m world champion — and holds the third-fastest men's time in the event, at 19.31 seconds — but Kerley is the reigning men's 100m champion. As a result, Kerley fired back at Lyles' social media prediction.

"I'm Fred Kerley and it's my title," Kerley, 28, said during a Friday press conference. "If Noah's running 9.65, I'm running faster."

Lyles, who was also at the presser, responded.

"That's what they all say until they get beat," the 26-year-old said.

Bolt, who won eight Olympic gold medals, told Lyles to "keep that same attitude" in a clip from Lyles' docuseries "Untitled: The Noah Lyles Project".

"The sport needs that sh--," Bolt said. "We need a personality."

At last year's World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Kerley took home gold in the 100m. He finished a tenth of a second shy of his personal best, 9.76, which he set in the semifinals of the 2022 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships.

As for Lyles, his personal best in the 100m is 9.86, a time that won him the event at the IAAF Diamond League athletics meet in Shanghai, China in 2019. The previous year, he became the youngest men's U.S. 100m champion at Outdoor Championships, with a time of 9.88.

But this will be the first time he competes in the men's 100m at worlds. In addition to his 2022 gold medal in the 200m, Lyles won gold at the 2019 World Championships in the 200m, so he is a clear favorite in that event.

Can he become the fastest man in the 100m and the 200m? He seems to think so.

"“I don’t have a problem saying what my dreams are," Lyles said. “If you believe you’re going to run fast, you don’t believe in yourself. I don’t care if you guys think I can do it or not. I don’t even care if I don’t do it. But I’m definitely going to say what I believe I can do. Because if I can’t tell that to myself, then how am I going to believe it’s going to happen?”

The preliminary round of the 100m starts at 6:35 a.m. ET on Saturday, with heats starting at 3:43 p.m. ET. The semifinals are at 10:35 a.m. ET on Sunday, with the final set for 1:10 p.m. ET.