Most people would take $100 million without blinking. But not Noah Lyles; not under these conditions. The American has been close to impeccable in 2026. He’s won all but one race this season, and even in the Paris DL, Lyles finished second by 0.01 seconds. It’s why Noah Lyles heard the offer and started doing the math instead. The answer he landed on says everything about how the sprint world’s biggest personality sees himself.

It was a rather enticing question posed to the reigning Olympic 100m champion: win gold in every race he runs in or have $100 million. The 28-year-old turned down the money over simple logic.

“Well, if I win gold in every single event that I participate in, I’ll make more than $100 million,” Lyles told Dreamcon. “I can create the biggest moment ever seen and get everybody to bet on it, knowing that I’m gonna win it, and make more than $100 million. So I’ll take that one.”

Smart, isn’t it? Just bet on the winning lottery if you know the numbers the day before. But how close is he to making a $100M from the tracks in real life?

Had he won all six meets he participated in this year so far, the 28-year-old would have earned approximately $120k. And that’s an approximation, as no exact figures are available for every event he has competed in so far in 2026.

The Seiko Golden Grand Prix is a gold-tier event in the World Athletics Continental Tour. Thus, Lyles could have earned around $15,000 for his 100m gold. Meanwhile, the Diamond League offers winners of their events $20,000 per Diamond + win and $10,000 per regular DL event. Since Lyles finished first in Rome and second in Paris, he would have earned $30,000.

Add that to his breaking the 150m world record at the Ostrava Golden Spike, alongside a gold medal and two more meets, and it could take the figure around $200k. Thus, for Lyles to earn anywhere close to that $100 million mark, he would have to race in every meet in a lot more than just the current season.

In fact, even if he won all the 100m and 200m in the DL this year, Lyles would barely hit the $1 million mark. However, considering he will be part of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, his fortunes could change.

The 28-year-old is the Ultimate Star for the event and is receiving an undisclosed amount for it. If he wins the 100m, it will be his largest win ever. There’s a record $10 million prize fund for the event, with winners of each discipline earning $150,000. Regardless, this isn’t the first time Lyles has been overly confident in his abilities.

Critics hit out at Lyles for calling himself the “fastest man in the world” before the Paris Olympics. His time (9.81) was short of the world lead mark held by Kishane Thompson (9.77). In fact, it was even behind Ferdinand Omanyala (9.79). He later clarified that the title belongs to the reigning World Champions, a title that he held after winning the 2023 worlds.

“The titles ‘fastest man’ and ‘fastest woman’ are awarded annually to the winners of the 100m at the world championships,” Lyles said in 2024 (via the Guardian). “I won the men’s 100m at the 2023 world championships, and Sha’Carri [Richardson] won the women’s.”

However, Lyles’ comments just show how much he has changed over the years. After all, the Olympic gold medalist didn’t always have the confidence and cockiness he now displays; he struggled with them as a teenager.

Noah Lyles reflects on struggling with confidence as a teenager

Considering just how his career has gone over the years, Noah Lyles is currently at the top of his game. In the last few years alone, Lyles has won two Olympic medals, six world titles, and a catalogue of others. It does indeed make him one of the fastest men on the planet, and Lyles has often reflected that with a certain swagger.

In fact, even before he won gold at the 2025 worlds, the American had an air of confidence about him. So much so that he told the world he would chase down Usain Bolt’s 200m record. Set in 2009, the Jamaican’s time of 19.19 seconds has been a world standard since. In fact, since the 2020s, only four men have cracked the top ten.

Lyles is the closest with 19.31 in 2022, although he has struggled to come close to his own personal best since then. However, that didn’t stop him from making the statement before winning the gold in the 200m at Tokyo. It simply shows just how confident he is, although that wasn’t always the case with Noah Lyles.

“Most of my childhood, confidence was not my thing. It’s just you know never followed me, I was either trying to just breathe with asthma, you know, or going from home school to regular school and realizing I got ADD and dyslexia, making school harder,” Lyles told Speakeasy with Emmanuel Acho in 2025.

“It’s probably uh me being co**y because in reality it’s me just having confidence,” Lyles added. “It’s just y’all don’t understand the things that I’ve had to go through to be at this point to know why I’m so confident. And at the end of the day, the reason that they get mad is cuz I keep doing the things that I say that I’m going to do.”

In the end, Noah Lyles clearly believes the medals will bring everything else with them. In his mind, $100 million is simply a byproduct of winning, not the prize itself.