Noah Lyles seeking to match Usain Bolt record of four consecutive world titles
Botswana’s Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo closing gap on US rival
Kenny Bednarek also pushing Lyles – and Australia’s 17-year-old sensation Gout Gout bubbling down under
Noah Lyles can make men’s 200m history in Tokyo. And it is going to take something – or someone – special to prevent him from doing so.
The exuberant US sprinter is seeking a fourth consecutive world title in this event – something only achieved thus far by Usain Bolt. But the 28-year-old Olympic 100m champion’s chances of matching the Jamaican’s win record looks healthy given his form on the curve this season.
He tops the 2025 world list with the 19.63 he set at the US Trials, when he achieved another historic flourish in matching the record of five 200m national titles held by Michael Johnson and Ralph Metcalfe.
On that occasion Lyles won by 0.04 after overtaking Kenny Bednarek in the final strides and turning to stare him out – for which he received a hefty shove in the back from the double Olympic 200m silver medallist.
That rivalry is likely to simmer again in the Tokyo Olympic stadium where Lyles was a disappointed 200m bronze medallist at the 2021 Games, one place behind the emerging Bednarek.
The latter athlete is second on the year’s world list with 19.67 – the time he clocked in following Lyles home at the trials.
However, Lyles also faces serious challengers from beyond his home shores, most notably Botswana’s 22-year-old Letsile Tebogo, who claimed the Olympic title in Paris last year in a race where Lyles finished third.
Lyles, making a late start to this season because of injury, ran 19.88 to beat Tebogo by 0.09 at the Monaco Diamond League meeting on July 11. Four days earlier, Tebogo had posted a season’s best of 19.76, which puts him fifth in this year’s listings.
At the Diamond League Final in Zurich, Lyles beat Tebogo again – but this time the margin was just 0.02 as Tebogo matched his season’s best.
A bronze medallist at the 2023 edition of these championships, Tebogo will be hoping to improve on that by at least one position, if not two.
Jamaica will be represented by 21-year-old Bryan Levell, whose season’s best of 19.69 puts him third on this year’s world list and gives him strong medal chances. Along with his 200m breakthrough, he has also improved his 100m PB to 9.82.
Zimbabwe’s Tapiwa Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba both made the Olympic final last year. They’ve both improved since then with Charamba setting a national record of 19.92, only for Makarawu to better it one month later when winning the NCAA title in 19.84 with Charamba finishing second.
Other contenders to watch include the Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando, Britain’s 2023 world 100m bronze medallist Zharnel Hughes and Australia’s extraordinary 17-year-old rising talent Gout Gout, who has already set an Oceanian record of 20.02 in his first international season.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
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