Lyles lightning strikes again

Alfred blazes to gold, Weber stuns Chopra

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Olympic champions Noah Lyles and Julien Alfred stormed to statement victories in the Diamond League Final on Thursday, two weeks before the world championships in Tokyo.

American Lyles became the first track athlete to win six Diamond League Final titles by beating Letsile Tebogo of Botswana in the 200 metres, and St Lucia's Alfred put injury concerns behind her with a dominant win in the women’s 100m.

Lyles, three-time world 200m champion, trailed Tebogo coming off the corner before reeling in his rival to cross the line in 19.74 and win by 0.02 seconds.

“Six in a row, the most in track!,” Lyles said. “It is pretty nice to have that. I saw Letsile lean on the finish line and I leaned on the finish line but I knew I won!”

Tebogo said Lyles has become humbler since he beat the American to win the 200m at the Paris Olympics.

“You have to let the legs do the talk, because the more you talk and you cannot prove it, it means you only talk, you do not prove yourself,” Tebogo said.