US sprinter Noah Lyles wants to cause a sensation over 100 and 200 m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest (19 to 27 August 2023). Fred Kerley and Co. have something against it. The showdown of the “Schnellzucker” starts on Saturday.
Before the start of the World Cup, Lyles praised European sprint champion Gina Lückenkemper. “Seeing how she does her best and wins is inspiring,” said Eugene’s 200m champion on Friday (08/18/2023) in Budapest, picking up Lückenkemper’s European title over 100m last year in Munich away. Both train together with Lance Baumann in the USA.
“It’s not an easy way to go from Germany to the United States,” said Lyles. The 26-year-old was happy that he didn’t have to go down such a path himself. Lyles praised Lückenkemper’s modesty and her fighting qualities. “She’s a dog,” he said, noting her bite and will.
Lückenkemper did not win her semifinals at the European Championships in Munich last year, but still won the final, although she injured her knee with her own spikes when she fell at the finish line. That was also a big moment for Germany, explained Lyles.
Seeing her do her best and win is inspiring.
While Lückenkemper only climbs into the starting block for the first time on Sunday (20.08.2023) over the 100 m, Lyles’ World Championship mission begins on the first day of the world title fights. Also over 100 m are on Saturday evening the heats for men.
Lyles double start in Budapest
Lyles makes a double start in Budapest – with big ambitions. “I’ll run 9.65 seconds and 19.10 seconds,” the 26-year-old drummed on Instagram before the World Cup. So he’s aiming for the second-best time in history in the 100m and a world record in the 200m.
The competition is especially fierce in the 100m hunt for gold (Sunday, 7:10 p.m., live on sportschau.de). First and foremost, defending champion and Lyles compatriot Fred Kerley has a say. The top eight sprinters in the world are only separated by seven hundredths of a second this year, and the top 30 can even be found within a range of 14 hundredths.
Nobody likes to predict who has the best chances next to Kerley in the Nemzeti Atletikai Központ. Maybe the British European record holder Zharnel Hughes. With 9.83 seconds the fastest man this year. Possibly the South African Akani Simbine. The eternal fourth and fifth who has already beaten Kerley this year. Or Kerley’s compatriots Christian Coleman and Cravont Charleston, who could give the USA its fourth consecutive world title after the end of the Usain Bolt era.
Duel Kerley vs. Jacobs eagerly awaited
Kerley, perhaps slightly favored as the defending champion, held back with big announcements towards the competition shortly before the start of the World Cup. In the past few months, on the other hand, he had been looking forward to a special duel with Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs in pithy words. The American was narrowly beaten by the Italian two years ago in Tokyo and has been waiting impatiently for revenge ever since. Now it could come to that.
“I had to work really hard,” said Jacobs, who has been battered all season and has a time of 10.21 seconds. But the European champion, who kept exchanging verbal poison darts with Kerley in a publicity-effective manner and thus fueled the anticipation of a reunion, believes he will be back in form in time.