Well, fair play to Noah Lyles: he always makes things interesting.
After the American claimed the tightest of all 100m titles on Saturday, consensus was that the biggest hurdle still to overcome in his hat-trick bid lay in the United States’ penchant for stuffing up the sprint relay.
The 200m, by contrast, looked close to a foregone conclusion. It is Lyles’ event, the one in which he made his name, the one in which he has won three straight world titles.
The one in which the talk pre-Paris was not about whether or not he would win gold, but whether Usain Bolt’s world record could go. The complexion, though, has changed a little, after Lyles finished only second in his semi-final, 0.12seconds behind Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who qualified fastest for the final.
On the one hand, there might be little cause for panic: remember, Lyles did not win either his heat or his semi-final en route to gold in the 100m, consoling himself with the idea that others were expending more than was wise when afforded their one shot at the king.
On the other, this was the first time he had been beaten over half-a-lap since finishing third in the Olympic final in Tokyo three years ago.
Lyles did not speak to the media afterwards, instead reported by LetsRun.com to have gone “straight to medical”, a vague enough phrase to set the rumour mill to work.
Was this the 27-year-old conserving energy in his fifth race in as many days, or is something physically amiss?
Either way, the uncertainty has added a layer of intrigue to the final that would not have been there had Lyles blown the field away while easing down.
Tebogo is one threat, but, if Lyles is short of his best, then virtually the entire field is in play, all but one of the eight finalists having broken the 20sec barrier this season.
The quickest of them is fellow American Kenny Bednarek, who finished just 0.06sec behind Lyles when setting his personal best of 19.59 at the US Olympic trials this year.
Never seen favoritism like this on a global scale.
— Kung Fu Kenny (@kenny_bednarek) August 7, 2024
Bednarek cruised to victory in his semi-final and then was immediately involved in controversy, taking to X, formerly Twitter, to express his fury at his lane allocation for the final.
Despite winning his semi and qualifying second-fastest in a time of 20.00sec, the 25-year-old was initially assigned lane four — tighter than ideal in the 200m — while Lyles had the more preferable lane five.
“Never seen favoritism like this on a global scale,” Bednarek posted.
After a protest, he has been switched to lane eight, with Lyles unmoved in five.
