Noah Lyles caught the entire world’s attention when he won his fourth consecutive World Championships gold in the 200m dash at Tokyo. He has now become the only man to rival the legacy of Usain Bolt with four consecutive golds in 200m flat. But does this achievement make him the second-best 200m sprinter? Is he really better than icons like Michael Johnson and Yohan Blake? Well, according to the famed commentator, Anderson Emerole, that’s the truth. 

On the YouTube channel The Final Leg Track & Field, Emerole pointed out that Lyles has two Olympic bronze medals in the 200m event in the past two Olympic Games. To top it off, he has the third fastest clock-in time in the 200m with 19.31 seconds. He ran this record-setting race at the 2022 World Championships. The commentator said, “What I think is very, very impressive is that the number of performances that Noah Lyles has been able to produce when talking about the 200m all-time in the event.” 

And if we look at the clock-in times, ‘Nojo18’ has run sub-10 seconds on 48 occasions. He went below 19.90 seconds 39 times. His record of going below 19.7 seconds is 21 times, and that for 19.6 seconds and below is 11. Emerole stated, “All of those performance marks are records in terms of the number of times he has broken those barriers.” Of course, Bolt has gone below 19.5 seconds on more occasions. But what about Michael Johnson? How come Lyles is better than someone who has an Olympic gold medal in the 200m? 

Emerole pointed out that even though Johnson has an Olympic gold, he has run sub-20 on only 23 occasions. On top of that, Lyles collectively has six medals (four World Championships gold medals and two Olympic bronze medals), while Johnson has only three (one Olympic gold and two World Championships golds). He said, “In my personal opinion, I think Noah Lyles and all the other accolades that he has amassed throughout his career allows him to supersede not having that gold medal at the Olympic Games.” 

Emerole also compared Lyles’ stance with others like Yohan Blake, Kenny Bednarek, Carl Lewis, Ato Boldon, Tyson Gay, Shawn Crawford, Andre De Grasse, Justin Gatlin, Wallace Spearmon, and Letsile Tebogo. But all of them failed to garner an equivalent total of accolades to what Lyles has amassed. 

To make things worse for his competition, Noah Lyles has also resolved to break a few more records. Let’s see what he plans to do next, shall we? 

Noah Lyles reveals his next big plan

With his performance at the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships, Lyles has become the only man after Bolt to have won four back-to-back golds in World Championships. But ‘Nojo18’ plans to surpass that as well. Following the race, he publicly declared, “I can’t wait for 2027 to become the only man to win five 200m titles.” Additionally, after his 2022 World Championships win, he revealed that he planned to run sub-19.10 seconds. Imagine the kind of success he can amass if he does that. 

But when he was talking to Speakeasy, Noah Lyles confessed that he was a better 200m runner than Bolt. He claimed, “I’d say I’m a more consistent runner. My consistency at running fast times is a lot higher. But at the same time, you’re saying as he got to the second half of his career, he didn’t run as many 200s or hundreds, you know.” 

Well, consistency is the key! And that has already gotten him closer to Bolt than anyone else. But do you agree with Anderson Emerole’s argument? Do you think Lyles can take over the 200m realm and become the best sprinter to ever run the distance?