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Noah Lyles, the 100m Olympic champion, finished third in the men’s 200m final as he chased a historic sprint double at the Paris 2024 Games after testing positive for Covid-19.
The American was quick out of the blocks and took the bend well but couldn’t maintain his pace as Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo pulled away over the final 50m to finish in a time of 19.46 sec.
Lyles’ US teammate Kenneth Bednarek made a late surge and claimed silver forcing Lyles into third with a time of 19.70sec, well short of his personal best 19.31.
Immediately after the race, the 27-year-old, was seen sitting in a chair and wheeled off the track as questions over his fitness were touted.
Former US Olympic great Michael Johnson challenged the notion of an injury while on punditry duties for the BBC saying: “He certainly isn’t carrying an injury because you can’t do this with an injury, you can’t run 19.70.
“If there’s anything, there’s some sort of illness that has zapped his energy from the ability to actually carry that speed all the way through.”
Shortly after word the US Track and Field broke the news that the bronze medallist ran the race after testing positive for Covid.
Lyles was aiming to complete a rare treble of 100m, 200m and 4x100m golds at the same Olympics. Only four men have won the triple at the same Games, and after winning the 100m crown by five thousandths of a second on Monday night, Lyles looked set to join American greats Jesse Owens (1936), Bobby Morrow (1956) and Carl Lewis (1984), as well as Usain Bolt (2012 and 2016), on the list.
But – just like his semi-final the previous night – Lyles came off the bend trailing Tebogo and never caught him.
Tebogo became the first African to win the title – setting an African record – and in doing so claimed Botswana’s first Olympic gold medal.
Tebogo, who won bronze at the worlds last year and set a national record of 9.86 when finishing sixth in the Paris 100m final, produced a dominant run to become the fifth-fastest man in history over 200m. Bednarek chased him all the way to take a second successive silver in 19.62 sec.
Lyles and Bednarek were set to team up for the men’s 4×100 relay in which the USA will be strong favourites to win gold and take the crown from Italy, who shocked the world in Tokyo.
But Lyles is now a doubt for that event – with the final on Saturday – as he tries to recover from illness.
