It’s been a magical few days for Oblique Seville. Winning the 100m at the Tokyo World Athletic Championships in front of his idol Usain Bolt, running a PB of 9.77s, and dethroning Noah Lyles can have that effect after all. But the highs of Sunday have been somewhat tempered by this newest development: injury. “He has been struggling with a medical problem. Every now and then, especially after he warms up, a similar problem occurs to what happened at the trials,” said Seville’s coach, Glen Mills, after his win. And now a hospital visit might be on his schedule now.

Former hurdler and Jamaican journalist Trishana C. McGowan reported on X that Mills has now confirmed via TVJTOKYO2025 that his protégé would indeed be undergoing toe surgery. The Jamaican has had a niggling toe injury that goes back to his high school days, and the athlete has often said it’s chronic. While it did not stop him from winning the world championships, reports indicate that his problems with his toe may have prevented Seville from reaching his full potential in the 200 m. As McGowan reported, “He [Mills] also says after the toe surgery, pending the success, then they will take on more 200m in the future.”

In a previous interview, Seville revealed, “If I don’t have any issues with my toe… I can take it on, but because of my toe, I have to be mindful of times when and where I run the 200 m.” Seville has run a few 200-meter races this year, notably clocking his career and season best of 20.13 in the Miami Grand Slam Track.

He was second in that race, finishing behind Kenny Bednarek, who recorded 19.84s on the clock. However, even his PB is significantly slower than Lyles’ best time of 19.63 this season. For more context, Lyles’s 200 m time is the fastest of all sprinters this season, while Seville’s PB puts him in 35th on the season’s leaderboard.

Now that Seville has a surgery scheduled, the big question is: can he dethrone Lyles in the 200m? Well, taking on the 200m will not only make Seville a better athlete but also move him towards the level of greatness that Usain Bolt sees in him. In fact, Bolt has even nominated Seville as a possible breaker of his longstanding 9.58s record in the 100m. But did you know that Glen Mills, who was Usain Bolt’s former coach, recently spoke of how the newly crowned 100m world champion almost lost his race?

Oblique Seville’s coach discusses his student’s performance in the 100m

Sure, Seville has dethroned Noah Lyles as the 100m world champion, but if you ask Glen Mills, it was a close one. In an interview after the final, Mills said, “I’m extremely elated that finally he has been rewarded with his effort…he has been to the final on several occasions of the Olympics and World Championships, and he has narrowly missed getting the reward in terms of medals.” His words definitely take us back to the 100m finals of the Paris Olympics, where Seville placed 8th with 9.91s.

The legendary coach also added, “However, that has never deterred me because it’s amazing watching him in the finish. After all, his first half of the race was one of the poorest I’ve seen. But with his determination, he would not be denied.” Notice how he called Seville’s first half of the race the poorest his eyes have witnessed? Well, his reaction time was 0.157s, the best in the race, actually, though he accelerated late.

For the majority of the race, Kishane Thompson was in the lead, and Seville only overtook him in the last few meters. When competing in Heat 1 of the World Championships, the world champ had trouble getting off to a good start. He finished third in the race with the worst reaction time of all, 0.286 seconds, and a time of 9.93 seconds. But when he needed to most, Seville locked in and ensured that the gold medal returned to Jamaica for the first time since Usain Bolt’s victory in 2017. And now that the 200m is in play as well, could Seville dethrone Lyles once more in the future?