Who is the fastest man in the world?
Paris Olympic Games’ 100-meter dash gold medalist Noah Lyles and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill are determined to find out.
After months of trash talk back-and-forth on social media, Lyles and Hill told ‘People’ magazine in a joint interview that they’ll face off in a footrace this summer. The end result will determine, once and for all, which athlete is faster.
The details of the race, including its distance and exact date, are still to be determined.
In their interview with ‘People,’ Hill and Lyles insinuated the race would be somewhere between 40 yards and 100 meters, a sort of compromise for the two athletes’ best events. Hill previously suggested a 50-yard race last August. USA TODAY Sports was able to confirm the race will take place in either June or July.
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The Tyreek Hill vs. Noah Lyles beef dates back to last year
The leadup to the announcement can be traced back as far as August 2024. About one week after Lyles won the Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter dash, Hill declared that he could beat Lyles in a race.
The gold medalist responded in an interview with Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson on their ‘Nightcap’ podcast.
‘If you’re serious about it, you’ll see me on the track,’ Lyles said.
‘Sign the contract and lock in that 50 yard race. …,’ Hill wrote in response.
The trash talk between the two sides has elevated in recent weeks. When Lyles won the 60-meter sprint at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, he immediately called out Hill, flipping his sprint bib around to reveal a message: ‘Tyreek could never.’
NBC’s Lewis Johnson asked Lyles about the message after the race, noting that it was ‘clearly a shoutout to Tyreek Hill.’
‘When you’re ready to actually put some words down and you’re actually ready to race,’ Lyles said, ‘see me. I’m right here. I ain’t going nowhere. But all I know is, your football season’s over. You ain’t got no excuse now.’
Hill replied on social media: ‘Get a load of this guy (laughing emoji).’
Since the race announcement Friday morning, Hill has continued to talk trash, declaring he’s going to ‘take [Lyles’] lunch money’ and leave the ‘track world … in shambles.’
Tyreek Hill track history
Before Hill was a speedy NFL wide receiver, he was a star track and field athlete.
In high school, Hill came within one one-hundredth of a second of the national high school record in the 200-meter sprint, which had been set at 20.13 seconds by Roy Martin in 1985. The record stood for over 30 years before (who else?) Lyles broke the record with a time of 20.09 seconds in 2016.
Though Hill missed out on making history, his 2012 season was enough to earn him ‘High School Athlete of the Year’ honors from ‘Track and Field News.’ He also was named to USA TODAY’s 2012 All-USA boys track team.
In 2023, Hill made his return to the track for the first time since a college meet in 2014. In his return, he won the men’s 60-meter sprint at the USA Track & Field Masters Indoor Championships with a time of 6.70 seconds.
To put things in a football perspective, 60 meters is about 66 yards. If Hill and Lyles’ race were 100 meters, it would be 109.4 yards. A 50-yard race like the one Hill suggested would be equivalent to a 45.7-meter sprint.