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≡ SCENE & HEARD ≡
Olympic men’s 100 m champion Noah Lyles is stirring the pot again, but this time he has help.
Lyles and fellow Paris Olympic gold medalists Grant Holloway (110 m hurdles) and Rai Benjamin (400 m hurdles) launched their “Beyond the Records” podcast with a 53-minute show on 12 December, including talk on how the Lyles vs. Tyreek Hill trash talk is evolving into a multi-race show.
The podcast spends a lot of time discussing how all three experienced the Paris Olympic Games, including Lyles explaining that he had Covid-19 when he won the 100 meters by a whisker in Paris. He says he tested negative that day, but had the virus in him at the time and it finally impacted him the next day, during the 200 m heats.
But he’s looking to the future, and has continually hinted that the August chatter between he and Miami receiver Hill (a 10.19/20.12 man in 2012) is moving toward a showdown … eventually.
Lyles referenced his showdown with streamer IShowSpeed (Darren Watkins Jr.), who has a 33 million audience on Twitch, on 6 November in Orlando. Watkins Jr. was video-called by YouTuber MrBeast (James Donaldson) during a live stream, who was standing with Lyles, and Watkins Jr. challenged Lyles to a race.
Watkins Jr. made the three-hour race to Orlando and promptly got out to a small lead on Lyles, who zoomed past him to win the 50 m race without much effort. (No blocks, no starting gun, no timing gear, but it was recorded).
In the podcast, Lyles explained to Benjamin and Holloway (edited for clarity):
“If I finished the race by beating him so bad, nobody’s going to want to see a rematch, nobody’s going to want to come back.
“And I already knew that the headline is going to be, ‘Speed almost beats Noah,’ then what’s the next headline? How is Noah gonna beat Tyreek Hill?
Benjamin: “Here we go, Tyreek. you’re next brother.”
Lyles: “So now people think that Tyreek might actually have a chance no matter if it’s actually true or not.
Holloway: “Did you guys, you got anything set up for that or is it in the works, we’re gonna have to find out in the next couple episodes?”
Lyles: “I got some news coming, you definitely going to want to stick around for the next few episodes I promise you that.”
Benjamin: “Chat, we’re cooking chat. We got something good.”
Lyles: “We putting in the spices now, the pot has been on, the water’s been boiled, like we put in the spices now. You guys are definitely going to want to stay tuned to these next few episodes. I’m telling you every time that we get together new information is going to be coming out.”
Benjamin: “We should we should get Speed on the podcast to break down the race between you and him.”
Holloway: “I like it I want to hear both sides, and then when you race Tyreek and spank him too, he’s next. We’ll bring him on to watch film. I’m looking forward to that Noah, I really am. I mean I think that’s going to be not just for track and field, but I think it’s going to open up a lot of eyes to really how everybody else always says football and track speed, da da da da, so you got my attention.”
Lyles: “Hey if we have an undercard would you race?”
Holloway: “What you want me to do?”
Lyles: “I’ve seen you [Holloway] run a 60; I haven’t seen you [Benjamin] run a 60.”
Holloway: “He [Benjamin] ran 9.9. He’s good.”
Benjamin: “I ran 10.0, bro, come on. … I’m a 10.0 guy.”
Holloway: “I’ll race on the undercard.”
Benjamin: “Who would you race?”
Holloway: “I’m calling [2019 World 100 m champ] Christian Coleman out.”
Lyles: “No no no, it has to be track versus other sports, like a DK Metcalf [Seattle Seahawks receiver] … we’re talking Christian versus [Kansas City receiver] Xavier Worthy in a 40.”
Benjamin: “I would want to see that. I would actually really want to see that.”
Holloway: “Well, I’m might take all the track heads but Coleman can do no wrong in my eyes.”
Benjamin: “Now, Christian would spank you [Holloway], brother.”
Holloway: “Yeah, he would but that’s part of the game. If I lose, I’m losing to the G.O.A.T.”
Benjamin: “One of the greatest starters of all time.”
Holloway: “Hey, and guess the second-greatest starter of all time? (meaning Holloway.)”
Benjamin: “Me? (all laugh) … That’s truly exciting bro, we’ve got some exciting things for you guys to see.”
Lyles: “So Grant would you race DK Metcalf? “
Holloway: “Of course.”
Lyles: “So would you take him in a 40?”
Holloway: “Of course.”
Lyles: “You want to tell him that?”
Holloway: “DK, you probably don’t know me. I’m a huge fan, you’re on my fantasy, so keep doing your thing bro. But hey, let’s do it man. If Noah’s gonna do Tyreek, and if we can get Coleman and Xavier Worthy, look, I’ll take the undercard with you. I think it’d be good.
“Now when you line up next to me, I might look like a little boy, but we got to see what the speed is like.”
Benjamin: “What would the format be? I feel like it would be good to like do it at the All-Star Weekend.”
Lyles: “I’m already giving too much information. I want to give more, but the best I can say is it’ll be very Mike Tyson-Jake Paul type.”
Benjamin: “It would be cool to do a crossover at the [NFL] Pro Bowl though, you know what I mean and I’m just saying, Pro Bowl. Listen, NFL, if you’re listening NFL execs, track crossover at the Pro Bowl.”
The 2025 NFL Pro Bowl, which is now a skills contest and a flag football game, is scheduled for 2 February 2025 in Orlando, Florida. Coincidentally, that’s a good time for the track folks, as the indoor season will have started. But it’s not likely to happen that fast.
Metcalf famously ran 10.37 for ninth in a heat at Mt. SAC on 9 May 2021 during the Covid pandemic. Worthy ran the 40-yard dash in 4.21 seconds (non-automatic timing) at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, the fastest on record, and has a 100 m best of 10.65 from 2019.
Oh yes, the next Benjamin-Holloway-Lyles episode comes on 19 December.
¶
None of this is by happenstance, you understand.
The point is that track & field, via Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track, the Athlos NYC meet underwritten by Alexis Ohanian and now Lyles putting together a track vs. football exhibition program – suddenly three races instead of one – are all part of a new effort inside and outside of the sport to raise the profile, in part because the athletes and performances are at an all-time high.
Will it work? It’s not clear that any of these promotions are going to get track & field to even where the WNBA or NWSL are now. But they are stirrings of new interest and new enthusiasm from inside and outside the sport. This is good, very good.
Moreover, none of these are happening through USA Track & Field, which is fine. For years, then-AAU Executive Director and later TAC [now USATF] chief executive Ollan Cassell said he would be happy to have some other entity run meets and his governing body could be a governing body, instead of a promoter.
If Grand Slam Track is successful in 2025, if the Athlos NYC projects expands and if Lyles is able to pull off his track vs. football race card, the next step is calendar coordination that brings in USATF, existing promoters, the Diamond League and others.
The history of U.S. sports shows this over and over again, as early as 1903 when the National League and American League agreed to play the first baseball World Series. And much later, the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the NBA-ABA merger in 1976, the NHL-WHA merger in 1979, and, internationally, the Open Era in tennis beginning in 1968 and so on.
The outcome of these successful transformations was a year-long calendar that involved everyone on agreed-to terms and created stability on which these sports were built. If, at the end of all of the talk, there is a cohesive outcome for the sport – which must involve World Athletics – it has a real chance to grow.
And that’s the ultimate outcome that athletes, coaches, officials and fans are all looking for.
Rich Perelman
Editor
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