Noah Lyles has never been one to mince words. Whether it’s chasing Usain Bolt’s records or aiming for multiple golds at the Paris Olympics, Lyles tells it like it is. So it probably comes as no surprise that the Olympic champion didn’t hesitate to call out the World Athletics awards for snubbing his compatriot Melissa Jefferson-Wooden even after her career year.

“There’s a lot more politics to these awards than you think,” Lyles told Indian news outlet Sportstar earlier, before flagging off the Bajaj Pune Marathon on December 14th. “I don’t think that Mondo [Duplantis] doesn’t deserve athlete of the year. I mean, he breaks the World Record every year.”

Duplantis indeed had one of the most impressive seasons in track and field. He broke his own men’s pole vault world record four times while remaining undefeated in 16 competitions throughout the year, both indoors and outdoors, to snag his fourth World Athlete of the Year title.

Nonetheless, Lyles questioned the decision-making process of the awards if Jefferson-Wooden’s 100m, 200m, and 4x100m sweep at the Tokyo World Championships weren’t enough to even put her in the mix for the women’s track athlete of the year award that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone eventually won.

“The World Athlete of the Year thing is kind of redundant because I mean Melissa [Jefferson-Wooden] wasn’t even nominated,” said Lyles. “At this point, this award is kind of a joke.”

It’s hard to argue with him. Because this year, women’s track athlete of the year nominees included world champions Femke Bol and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, yet Jefferson-Wooden’s name was absent, despite her dominance in Tokyo.

Still, Lyles had plenty to celebrate in his own season. “Personally, I didn’t even think I was going to get nominated this year. I started out and got injured in the middle of it.” Lyles dealt with an ankle injury in April, which slowed his start to the year, forcing him out of competition for weeks.

“I had some great 200m timings,” he added. “It wasn’t until they nominated me and I actually looked at my season that I realized, ‘Wow, that wasn’t too bad. Why wouldn’t I get nominated!'”

Though he didn’t think it initially, Lyles indeed accomplished a lot this year. He won the men’s 200m gold at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, clocking 19.51 seconds to claim his fourth consecutive world 200m title, putting him alongside Usain Bolt’s record-matching streak. He also played a key role in the 4×100m relay, helping Team USA secure gold.

Still, despite his unexpected nomination for the track athlete of the year award, Lyles remained unimpressed with the whole situation, reigniting memories of the Jefferson-Wooden snub that generated significant buzz at the time.

As Noah Lyles said, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden makes history yet is overlooked for awards

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden was on top of the world at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. After winning gold in the 100m, she didn’t stop there, claiming the 200m title as well to complete the sprint double.

At just 24, she became the first American woman and only the fourth in history to achieve this feat at a single World Championships. Dominating the field, she won the 200m by nearly half a second, a margin only previously surpassed by Allyson Felix in 2007.

Her winning time of 21.68 seconds vaulted her past Felix on the world all-time list, placing her eighth, after already securing the fourth-fastest 100m time in history earlier in the championships.

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“Being the first American to win the women’s 200m at a World Championships since Allyson Felix means a lot. I looked up to her so much growing up,” Jefferson-Wooden reflected.  “It’s amazing to be able to hear these statistics – they just make me feel blessed..for the position I am in now.”

But the celebration was tempered by disappointment. When World Athletics announced the finalists for the Female Track Athlete of the Year award, Jefferson-Wooden’s name was missing. The omission stung. She called it “a slap in the face to all the work I put in this year” and added that while she likes to be respected, she was determined not to dwell on the snub.

“At one point you become so used to being sidelined that you start accepting it,” she said. “I don’t want to say I’m used to it, but in a sense it’s just kind of like, ‘Okay, cool, fine, whatever.’ I guess I’ll try harder next time.”

The unexpected snub did not escape notice within the track world. Even her contemporaries were astonished; Masai Russell responded on social media with the simple question: “No Melissa??” Even sports commentator and writer Gregory Airende also added his voice, reflecting on the obvious partiality. “Melissa won three gold medals and was unbeaten all season. This is very biased.”

And now with Noah Lyles’ latest comment, it stirred up the discussion of fairness and recognition in track again.