A young American sprinter smashed Usain Bolt's 200m world record — then immediately found out he'd only run 185m
- American sprinter Noah Lyles thought he'd broken Usain Bolt's 200m world record at Thursday's Inspiration Games.
- However, shortly after crossing the finishing line, his 18.90 second effort was ruled out after it turned out he'd actually only ran 185m.
- Lyles tweeted afterwards: "You can't be playing with my emotions like this … got me in the wrong lane smh."
- A rough calculation by Insider suggests that if Lyles had run the full 200 meter distance, he'd have run a time of around 20.4 seconds — fast, but by no means world-beating.
For a moment at Thursday's Inspiration Games, American sprinter Noah Lyles was the fastest man in history.
The 22-year-old appeared to run an astonishing time of 18.90 seconds in the 200m, which would have, by some way, eclipsed Usain Bolt's world record of 19.19 seconds, which has stood since 2009.
However, before Lyles had time to celebrate, his time was revoked when it turned out he'd actually only run 185m. According to the BBC, Lyles had been placed in the wrong lane, and hence ran 15m shorter than his fellow racers.
"That cannot be right!" said the BBC's Steve Cram as Lyles crossed the line. "Even he has got his hands in the air wondering what is going on!"
Lyles, whose personal best in the 200m is 19.50 seconds, tweeted afterwards: "You can't be playing with my emotions like this…got me in the wrong lane smh."
A rough calculation by Insider suggests that if Lyles had run the full 200 meter distance, he'd have run a time of around 20.4 seconds — fast, but by no means world-beating.
The Inspiration Games was the first global track competition since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Held at seven different venues around the world, 30 athletes competed virtually in eight events, including the 150-meter sprint, the 100-yard dash, and the 300-meter hurdles.
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