Noah Lyles equals Usain Bolt’s record with fourth straight 200m gold at World Athletics Championships 2025

Lyles also won bronze in men’s 100m at Tokyo.

Noah Lyles banished the bad memories of his last appearance at the Japan National Stadium in the best possible way on Friday (19), by equalling Usain Bolt’s record of four consecutive world 200m titles before an appreciative crowd of almost 60,000 at the World Athletics Championships 2025.

In the Covid-affected lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Lyles openly struggled with his mental health and arrived in Japan a shadow of the athlete who had won his first world 200m title in commanding fashion two years earlier in Doha.

Without a raucous crowd in the Olympic stadium to energise him, the extrovert US athlete was strangely subdued and unable to lift himself above the bronze medal.

But all that was forgotten on Friday as Lyles was back on top of the world in the event, he holds most dear.

Four. In. A. Row. 🥇🥇🥇🥇Noah Lyles takes the world title once again in the men's 200m! The #Paris2024 100m Champion ran a 19.52s to take the win here in Tokyo, in the same stadium where he made his Olympic debut and won his first Olympic medal!#WorldAthleticsChamps |… pic.twitter.com/Pg1QrJGve5

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) September 19, 2025

“I can’t wait for 2027 (the next World Championships in Beijing) to become the only man to win five 200m titles,” he said afterwards.

“I don’t have good memories from Tokyo in 2021. At that time, I was depressed, but this time I am energised. I love what I do, and I am happy. I have the best support staff and the best crowd I could have ever asked for.

“My face is blasted everywhere over Tokyo. This is amazing and such a joyous moment I am going to keep with me forever.” 

Also Read: Femke Bol defends 400m hurdles crown with dominant run at World Athletics Championships 2025

In an extraordinarily competitive 200m final, the first four men were separated by just 0.13 seconds at the finish, and were almost even mid-way down the straight.

With his blonde dreadlocks flying, Noah Lyles used his exceptional ability to maintain his top end speed in the last 40 metres. He didn’t have the best start but he trusted his ability, taking a small but crucial lead in the final stages to cross the finish line in 19.52. 

“Being patient was the most important thing,” he said. “I controlled the race. I knew some of the guys were going to tighten up but I just stayed relaxed and got the job done. I am proud to be able to show all my skills.”

His domestic and international sparring partner Kenny Bednarek finished just six-hundredths behind.

The two US sprinters famously had a push and shove and exchange of views after finishing in the same order at the US Championships in July. They resolved their differences, but the personal history added to the intrigue of this race.

Bednarek, 26, is an under-appreciated force in this event, having now claimed two Olympic silver medals and two world silver medals in the last four years.

It can’t be easy to have had so many near-misses on a global title, but Bednarek is convinced that his time will come.

Noah Lyles just joined an ELITE club. 👏 #WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/O2zQEK5yGq

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 19, 2025

“I have been so close to gold,” he said. “It is a matter of time when I put things together. Once I got off the bend I made sure I stayed relaxed. I get a lot from the crowd. Maybe a few years ago, I would have been timid. Now I embrace it and enjoy it.”

The new generation of Jamaican sprinters continues to rise through the ranks. In this event it was 21-year-old Bryan Levell, the youngest man in the field, who lifted himself on to his first global podium, setting a personal best of 19.64 to claim the bronze medal.

“It’s a really very good feeling to know I can do it,” he said.

Levell dipped at the finish line to deny Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo a medal by just 0.01.

Botswana’s Tebogo, still 22, has not quite found the form he did in the Olympic year, hampered by a range of injuries, but he accepted his fate with grace.

“This is part of the game,” he said. “You are not always going to win everything. You learn and we will see how I move on from this. I will get back to work now and hopefully be back stronger. I believe I still have more in the tank.” 

Also Read: Rai Benjamin finally wins men’s 400m hurdles gold at World Athletics Championships 2025

It is an anomaly in Lyles’ record that he has been so dominant at the World Championships over the past seven years but has yet to win an Olympic gold medal in the event he has otherwise made his own.

He bounced back to win two world titles after Tokyo – in Oregon and Budapest, completing the 100m-200m double – but the Olympic title continues to elude him.

In Paris last year he won the 100m title, but his form deserted him in his signature 200m as Tebogo claimed a historic gold medal in 19.46s. Afterwards Lyles revealed that he had contracted Covid-19 before the final.

But he was back at his best in Tokyo, making a statement of intent in the semi-finals, when he ran the fastest 200m of the year (19.51). From there, the title was his for the taking.

Britain’s Zharnel Hughes was fifth in 19.78 – a time that would have been enough to win bronze at any other championships.

It was the first time that three, or even four, men had broken 19.70 in the same race, and the first time five men had finished inside 19.80.

Australia’s 17-year-old sensation Gout Gout was run out in the semifinals, finishing 18thoverall, still an extraordinary result for a teenager now going home to complete his high school exams. 

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