'I Don't Plan to Lose' - Noah Lyles Warns Letsile Tebogo Ahead of 200m World Record Hunt

Noah Lyles has sent a stark warning to Letsile Tebogo ahead of the men’s 200m at the World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.

The reigning Olympic 100m champion started his campaign with the 100m, winning the heats and finishing second in the semifinal.

The Olympic 200m bronze medallist then went ahead and finished third in the final, clocking 9.89 seconds behind Oblique Seville and Kishane Thompson.

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Noah Lyles now shifts his focus to the 200m, where he has already made his intentions clear, hinting at attacking the world record and silencing his opponents.

The American is excited about the current trend in the 200m. After winning the Diamond Trophy in Zurich, he believes he is on the right track as far as his goals are concerned.

He revealed that his goals coming into the World Championships would be to win any medal in the 100m and go for the world record in the 200m.

Noah Lyles is currently the third-fastest man in the 200m with a personal best time of 19.31 seconds. Usain Bolt is the world record holder with his impressive 19.19 seconds, with Yohan Blake coming in second with 19.26 seconds.

“You know, I've been thinking the same thing. I had a comment in Zurich after the Diamond League final, and I was talking about how it would be crazy because if I had to make the choice of getting any colour medal in the 100 and then breaking the world record in two, I think I might take the two,” Noah Lyles told Citius Mag in an interview.

“I think half of that kind of comment has already come true. And I know that my hundreds and 200m actually don't translate as one-to-one as I would like. Usually, when I have my best 200 years, my hundreds aren't as fast.

“So I don't know. There's a lot of excitement going on in the 200. Obviously, I have the energy. Obviously, I have the motivation. I don't plan to lose. I plan to go out there full force, you know, jump off the cliff, so to speak, with all enthusiasm into this race.”

Despite failing to defend his 100m title, Noah Lyles revealed that he has enjoyed the season so far and winning the bronze is something great.

Noah Lyles revealed that people expected him to be disappointed since he was the defending champion and was looking forward to winning the race, but the outcome was different.

He added that owing to the season he has had, he noted that stepping on the track was a testimony, and he would have been disappointed if he had failed to show up.

“Yeah, I'm pretty joyful. I haven't really felt any feeling of disappointment. I've only felt joyful, truly. I know it's kind of weird because it's like, dang, I'm the defending champion, and I'm very all about winning. But I know I know the situation that was laid in front of me,” Noah Lyles said.

“I knew that the journey was hard. I think I'd be more disappointed if I didn't go out there and give my 100%. And if I, you know, didn't see improvement throughout the year and I said, ‘No, I'm just going to stop because it's not looking good.’

“No, that was not that's not who I see myself to be, and that's not who I want to present myself to be. I want to make sure that when I show up, I'm going to give my all. So, if I lose, it's because this wasn't my day today.”

Noah Lyles added that he believes sports breed intention and competitiveness, noting that if there was only one goal and multiple people, they could not all be nice, smile, and accept someone else winning.

He explained that in sport, athletes have goals, and some feel bad about losing, while others feel good about winning, and that is simply how it is.

Ahead of his 200m champion, Noah Lyles also mentioned that he is planning to get a lot of rest. He explained that he had come out to enjoy the fans, do some media, but had mostly been sleeping.