A simple social media post captioned “POV 300m Rep” from Noah Lyles, a few days ago, sent a ripple of curiosity through the track and field world. This was a quiet hint of something unexpected from the sport’s reigning 100m Olympic champion.

The hint, however, has now been confirmed by @_OwenM_ on X, as on Friday, Lyles will toe the line at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational for his first race of 2026, not in his signature 60m or 200m, but in the 300m. This was the very distance where, nine years ago, a teenage Lyles amazed the entire track and field world with his epic performance. However, this choice to run in the 300m will be more than just a nostalgic run.

It will come with a major challenge, as the 100m Olympic champion will face the Ivorian NCAA champion, Cheickna Traore. For Lyles, apart from all the glory he has achieved in the 100m and the 200m, the 300m will always hold a special place in his heart. In 2017, as a 19-year-old professional in his first season, he delivered a breathtaking performance at the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, clocking 31.87 seconds to shave 0.01 seconds off Wallace Spearmon’s world indoor best.

Reflecting on that breakthrough, a young Noah Lyles said, “I definitely felt like I was coming in here ready to run. My coach [Lance Brauman] and I have been doing a lot of both endurance and speed work, but truthfully I just felt ready in all my practices, so I was really confident in what I could do.” That race was surely something, as a few years after that, Lyles surged to global dominance. However, in 2026, the 300m challenge is genuine.

Past dominances don’t guarantee future victories. And this rule also applies to Lyles. His competition at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational will be the NCAA champion Cheickna Traore. In 2024, he set the Ivorian national record in the 200m with a blistering 19.93 seconds. However, looking at his 300m short track best, the athlete has only run a 33.64 in 2022.

This time, while behind Lyles’ personal best, doesn’t clear away the prospect that the event will be an easy one for the American runner. Furthermore, the Jimmy Carnes Invitational will see Udodi Onwuzurike, who will open his season as well, running the men’s 200m. This will be his first indoor 200m since the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships, where the Nigerian athlete ran a personal best of 20.17 and 20.36 en route to a fifth-place finish.

Coming back to Lyles, the 100m Olympic champion is just readying himself for the biggest event in 2026.

All roads lead to Poland for Noah Lyles

Noah Lyles gave everything to secure a World Indoor title in Glasgow in 2024. However, all he could win were two silver medals, which were in the men’s 60m and 4x400m relay. “It feels like one of my best performances – 6.44, I’m never going to be dissatisfied with that. Last year I was running 6.51 and this year I’ve put down multiple 6.4s, and these are not small 6.4s either, I’m deep into 6.4 territory and talking about 6.3 at some point,” he said.

The American runner knew that he could push for more. And last year, in 2025, he started his season at the RADD Sports College Invitational, where he raced in the 60m and secured first place in 6.62 seconds. While not his best, this performance helped him to build his confidence ahead of the New Balance Grand Prix.

So, when he arrived in Boston, he clocked a rapid 6.52 seconds in the 60m. Now, all these indoor events he will be attending, like the Jimmy Carnes Invitational and the New Balance Grand Prix later this month, will be good practice for the World Indoor Championships in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland. That event will take place from March 20 to 22, 2026, and it will be his biggest goal to go get those gold medals that he missed out on in Glasgow two years ago.

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