The 2004 Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin has offered his expert insight on the growing rivalry between American sprint sensation Noah Lyles and Botswana’s rising star Letsile Tebogo.
Both athletes have enjoyed tremendous success in 2024 and Gatlin believes that their head-to-head battles could define the next era of sprinting.
In a recent episode of the Ready Set Go podcast, Gatlin expressed his admiration for both athletes but singled out Lyles for his extraordinary potential and star power.
“Sky’s the limit for Noah.He still has that ‘it’ factor, and he brings it to the table every time. He’s athletically inclined to walk it and talk it, and that’s what makes him stand out,” Gatlin said.
Lyles, a six-time world champion, cemented his legacy further with a stunning performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
He captured the gold medal in the 100m final, clocking a personal best of 9.79 seconds (9.784), just edging out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who finished with a near-identical time of 9.79 seconds (9.789).
Meanwhile, Letsile Tebogo has been nothing short of phenomenal in his own right.
The Botswana sprinter took the athletics world by storm in 2024, winning the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal with a record-breaking 19.46 seconds in the 200m, setting a new African record.
Tebogo then delivered a jaw-dropping 43.03 seconds split in the 4x400m relay, the second-fastest split in history, helping Botswana earn a silver medal with an African record time of 2:54.53.
Gatlin, himself a former world champion and a gold medalist in the 100m at the 2004 Athens Olympics, praised Tebogo’s versatility and immense talent.
“He [Tebogo] has a reservoir of talent, and the fact is, his issue is going to be which one he’s going to pick, which one he’s going to focus on,” Gatlin said.
“He’s that true hybrid athlete that can do a little bit of everything and do it very well.”
The veteran sprinter went on to say that he believes the rivalry between Lyles and Tebogo could develop into one of the greatest showdowns in sprinting history.
“These two, I don’t know, for some reason, I just see a really epic battle for the ages,” Gatlin stated.
“It depends on what they’re going to line up in and when they’ll line up, but we’re in for something special.”
Lyles, who capped off his season with a gold medal in the 100m and a bronze in the 200m in Paris, recently confirmed that he has decided to end his 2024 campaign early.
In an interview during the 2024 US Open, Lyles revealed that the lingering effects of COVID-19 led to the decision.
“We decided that after the COVID situation, we are just going to call it there and I didn’t want to keep pushing,” he said.
On the other hand, Tebogo is set to compete in the 200m final at the Brussels Diamond League on September 14, as he seeks to add a Diamond League title to his stellar season.
With both sprinters riding high on the global stage, the future of men’s sprinting looks brighter than ever.
Gatlin’s remarks underline the significance of this budding rivalry with fans eagerly awaiting the next chapter in the clash between Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo.
