After achieving “the sprint treble” in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest last year, Noah Lyles equalized himself with the track and field great Usain Bolt. In the Paris Olympics season, that led the 6x world champion to go at an extra pace to topple Bolt from the record book. Understandably, sprinting in the sub-9 category is a prerequisite for that. To attain it, Noah Lyles named a destination that is already known as the ‘choice of champions’ for its geographical structure. It is the famed National Training Center in Clermont, Florida.

Just a few days ago, Noah Lyles received a special note from the National Training Center. High schooler Christian Miller completed the world-leading timing of 9.93 there in 100m sprinting. That finesse seems to have satisfied Noah Lyles to a level where he termed Clermont as the place to turn into a sprinting phenom. His tweet on April 21 narrated, “If you are a HS runner and you want to run 9 second you just come on down to clermont.” Florida already holds a special reverence, being the home of fast tracks such as Percy Beard Track and UMami Cobb Stadium. But for Noah, Clermont holds special significance. 

Noah Lyles’ Adidas training facility is also in Florida under the tutelage of Lance Brauman. Furthermore, the place dictates the high school competition Pure Athletics Spring Invitational. Coincidentally, Christian Miller’s world-leading timing came at the Pure Athletics Elite Invitational in this year’s chapter. In the same race, another high schooler, Rikkoi Braithwaite, claimed the runner-up position, touching almost the sub-9 category. Notably, Noah Lyles already has a few experiences of facing stunningly fast high schoolers in the same venue. And some of those are quite troublesome! 

Noah Lyles had his nemesis at Clermont 

Facing a high schooler in track and field meets is not new for Noah Lyles. The 200m wunderkind Erriyon Knighton nurtures a special track and field rivalry with Noah. However, in last year’s PURE Athletics Invitational, a teenager defeated the reigning 100m world champion in the 100m dash itself! After facing such a defeat, Noah could only give out to meet the teenager on “big stages” again. But where did the clash happen? 

The answer is simple- Clermont. On that occasion, the concerned high schooler, Issam Asinga, recorded 9.86 seconds to defeat Noah Lyles. The teenager sent a shiver to everyone by attempting three different 100m dash in the sub-9 category, on the same day. Like Noah Lyles, Issam kept the dream of coming into the top-3 sprinters in the world. Surely, Noah is keeping a tab on that. 

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In the meantime, Noah also started his Paris Olympics session journey from Florida. However, the expected results are yet to touch his feet. Meanwhile, the phenom might take inspiration from these high schoolers to keep his promise this year.