T.C. Williams alum and professional adidas athlete Noah Lyles shocked the track world Thursday with his season opening 18.91 in the 200m dash, well ahead of the world record of 19.19.
There was one issue, though.
He didn't run a full 200m.
Somehow his blocks were placed at the wrong line and thus he ran 185 meters instead of the full 200.
His converted 200m time would be 19.45, which is close to his 19.50 best ran last year. His best 150m is 14.69, which converts to 19.58 for 200m as well.
Noah Lyles Athlete Profile
FloTrack recapped the moment and how Noah nearly broke the track internet when for about three minutes his official time was 18.91 ... until the reason was figured out. Check out that article here.
This is the second major incident involving faulty times and Lyles breaking a time-barrier. In high school he ran 9.84 in the 100 when the timing system went down and was hand-timed. You can watch that race here.
Noah may not have broken 19 seconds in the 200 but he certainly could be the first athlete to do so. His personal bests square up perfectly with Usain Bolt's 2008 progression heading into what was Bolt's first major Games. That means if he were to follow that same trend he could be looking for something 19.30 or faster in the 200.
WATCH: Noah Lyles Go 9.84 Hand-Timed in High School
Actually Noah's times are slightly ahead of Bolt's times comparatively speaking and with the Olympics being moved back to 2021 means that Lyles may have the added advantage of an extra year as well.
