Noah Lyles sets world best at 150m at Golden Spike meet

On the evening of June 16 (local time), Noah Lyles, 28, outpaced South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile (14.78) and Australian teenage sensation Gout Gout (14.96) in the 150-meter race. Lyles’ 14.67-second run broke the previous best of 14.72 set by Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson in Florida last April.

“Do you ever doubt? Do you ever? We came here to put on a show,” Lyles told Czech television with palpable excitement.

Earlier this month, Lyles won convincingly at the Wanda Diamond League in Rome with a 9.88-second 100m, his fastest time since capturing the Olympic gold medal in Paris 2024. Known for high-energy performances and a love of anime, Lyles has compiled a strong series of results both indoors and outdoors this year. He was also recently named to the Time100 list of the world’s most influential people.

In another headline event, Dutch star Femke Broeders-Bol was outpaced by Switzerland’s Audrey Werro in her outdoor debut over 800m. Broeders-Bol, 26, who switched from the 400m hurdles (where she holds two world golds), finished second with an impressive 1 minute 57.13 seconds. “It was great; I love competing in Ostrava. The race was tough, but I enjoyed it a lot,” she said.

Werro, 22, won in 1:54.45, just half a second off her personal best from March, after breaking away from Broeders-Bol over the final 200 meters. “It was a really crazy race, but the time was good, so I’m very happy,” Werro said. Still, she remains about a second shy of the oldest world record in the discipline (1:53.28), set by former Czechoslovakian runner Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983 — who watched the race from the stands.

In the men’s 100m, 20-year-old South African Bayanda Walaza won by equaling his personal best of 9.94 seconds, beating Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme (9.99). American contenders Ronnie Baker and Jordan Anthony placed fourth and fifth with times above 10 seconds.