Usain Bolt‘s shadow has brought Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman under the same roof. As Bolt’s title of the World’s fastest man is still intact, both have expressed a desire to break the record. First, it was Lyles, then recently Coleman entered that debate. Interestingly, Bolt himself has added his bit to the discussion. Batting for Lyles, Bolt claimed, “…the possibility is there.” Understandably, that drastically raised the hopes of the fans. But neither Lyles nor Coleman has come close and the fans are not pleased.

Both Coleman and Lyles have made their outdoor debut this season. But, they failed to go anywhere near Bolt’s record mark. In fact, they haven’t even been able to breach Bolt’s slowest time on the track.

Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman: Too far from being the fastest? 

Christian Coleman came into the Shanghai Diamond League as a favorite to win gold. In fact, as per previous claims by the athlete, fans were even hoping for Coleman to break the world record. However, when the race concluded, things didn’t pan out according to expectations. South African sprinter Akani Simbine outran him to clock 10.01s, while Coleman posted a disappointing time of 10.04s. 

Likewise, Noah Lyles, in a recent interview, expressed his desire to topple Usain Bolt. He said, “Title of the fastest man in the world… title of the 100m champion… running the world-leading time… that is the one I have been reaching for.” Unfortunately, just like Coleman, Lyles fell well short of it in his recent outing.

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Competing in the Bermuda Grand Prix, Lyles did clinch the pole position in the men’s 100m. But his timing was a decent 9.96s way slower than Bolt’s long-standing world record of 9.58s. Earlier, Lyles finished with 10.01s at the Tom Jones Memorial.

Interestingly, soon after winning gold at the Bermuda Grand Prix, Noah Lyles posted the news on his Instagram with the caption, “Bermuda knows the vision.”

But fans went up in arms as they believed the timing could have been better. They were quick to lash out at the US athletes on social media and pointed out how far behind they lagged behind Bolt’s record.

“Gonna be the worst 100m Olympic” Fans unhappy with USA’s star athletes’ performances

Fans could not seem to get over Lyles’ performance in the last season. Who can forget his triple-sprint victory in Budapest? But with his performance in the recent races, fans aren’t too pleased, especially after his world record claims. Under his post one disappointed fan added, “9.96? That’s it 🤨”. The comment might look very relevant if we look at not only the record 9.58s time but also the top five finishes of Usain Bolt.

The slowest among the top five for Bolt is 9.76s. Neither Lyles nor Coleman has surpassed that time as well. Therefore, another Instagram user was completely dissatisfied with the time clocked by Lyles. Sharing an opinion, the user mentioned, “Has any runner ran under 9.90 yet this year? Why is everybody so slow?, I feel like it’s gonna be the worst 100m Olympic.”

Bolt set the world record during the World Athletics Championship on August 16, 2009, in Berlin. He surpassed his previous best of 9.69 seconds which he had clocked at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Since then, the record has remained untouched with Bolt’s rival Tyson Gay and Jamaican Yohan Blake both hitting a time of 9.69 seconds in 2009 and 2012 respectively. With this in mind, a user pointed out Bolt’s record will stay for a long time, “No one is coming close to 9.58 in years”.

Lyles’ personal best time in the 100m came last year during the World Championships in Budapest when he clocked 9.80m and has been focused on breaking Bolt’s record ever since. However, his performances this season have seen him fall short. Left disappointed with Lyles’ timing, another fan wrote, “That boy not breaking WR ☠️”. These comments do take us back to when Christian Coleman claimed that the current crop of sprinters could break Bolt’s record. 

A few days ago Coleman, who achieved a personal best of 9.76s at the World Championships in Doha in 2019, said, “Honestly I feel like a lot of the guys who are competing today who are not that far off.” This led to some backlash online with one fan claiming that Coleman, “was tripping hard.” But there is one point.

This is only the beginning of the season, and the sprinters might not be trying to go out this early. There have been arguments previously that April is not the month when sprinting sees great times. So apparently, one should wait till the season progresses further. But that argument is not stopping fans from voicing their opinion. Along similar lines, one fan seemed to be reminding Lyles of his place in the realm, “9.96? Not even an accomplishment. Aren’t you supposed to be one of the best?”

Lyles did come close to breaking Bolt’s 200m 19.19s record when he clocked 19.31 at the  2022 World Athletics Championships. This has led to Bolt backing Lyles to do better. In an interview with Citius Magazine, he said, “I think the possibility is there because he came close at the (2022) World Championships. I think if he corrects a few things, I won’t say, he could get better. The possibility is there.”

But for now, fans don’t believe that Lyles or Coleman can become the world’s fastest man. The ace sprinters must be taking note of the dismay. It remains to be seen how they evolve to address these months ahead of the Olympics.