Lyles excited about racing toward world title defence

Noah Lyles was ‘super excited’ on Tuesday about his progress toward defending his IOO and 200 meters titles at track and field’s world championships next month.

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The Paris Olympics IOO-meter champion lost weeks of training to an unspecified injury in April and ran his first sub-IO seconds time this season on Saturday in Poland.

“I'm super excited because I'm seeing the progression,” the 28-year-old American said at a news conference in Lausanne ahead of the Athletissima meet.

Lyles will no longer face Thompson, who ran 9.75 in June, after the Olympic silver medalist opted to skip his intended Swiss entry. The lineup includes Courtney Lindsey of the United States and Jamaican Oblique Seville who have run, respectively, 9.83 and 9.82 this season.

“Everybody else has had probably eight, |O races already,” said Lyles, who started just three {00s since his competitive season began in mid-July, “I'm coming in in a rushed schedule.”

“Sometimes you got to step back and be excited just for that," he said.