Paris Olympics: Noah Lyles cruises in 200m prelim after only a few hours sleep … and being a good boyfriend

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PARIS — Noah Lyles’ first night as an Olympic champion wasn’t quite as glamorous as he once envisioned.

The newly crowned world’s fastest man fulfilled his media obligations, peed in a cup and then received treatment for his aching body.

When Lyles was on his way back to the Olympic Village at around 2 a.m., his girlfriend Junelle Bromfield called asking for a favor. The Jamaican 400-meters specialist had left the bag that contained her track spikes at the Paris Airbnb where their massage therapist is staying.

“Not only was I an Olympic champion, I was also the savior of the spikes last night,” Lyles said with a laugh.

“Here I am at 2 a.m. waddling with the spikes bag, my bag and some toiletries. Here I am, Olympic champion, 100 meters, waddling to my girlfriend’s room with all that stuff. I’m like, ‘I’m a good boyfriend.’”

Though Lyles said he fell asleep at 2:45 a.m. and woke up at 7 a.m. Monday morning, the lack of sleep did not prevent him from advancing to the semifinals of the men’s 200 meters later that evening. He eased across the finish line in his Round 1 heat in 20.19 seconds, nowhere near his best time, yet good enough to take the win ahead of second-place Andre De Grasse of Canada.

Lyles said coach Lance Brauman just told him to take it easy and finish “top two.”

“In my heart, I said one,” Lyles admitted with a laugh.

Lyles won his first career Olympic gold medal in a photo finish on Sunday night, coming from behind to overtake Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson and edge him by five-thousandths of a second. He is the first American to win the men’s Olympic 100 since Justin Gatlin did it 20 years ago.

When Lyles studied the race for the first time while getting treatment late Sunday night, his immediate reaction was, “Oh, I really was in last place [early in the race].” But then when he studied the race data, he discovered that each segment of his race resembled some of his best performances from years past.

“So it wasn’t that I struggled to get out,” Lyles said. “It was that everyone else stepped up.”

Lyles was especially proud of a 10-meter segment late in the race that he completed in .82 seconds.

“Me and Coach B know that if I’m going to run a 9.7, a 9.6, I have to run a .82 somewhere in that race,” Lyles said.

For now, Lyles remains all business, his focus on winning the men’s 200 and completing an Olympic sprints double. But when the Olympics are over, he says he has “pretty big plans” to celebrate the two-year anniversary since he and Bromfield began dating.

“Last year, we unfortunately went on a Noah Lyles campaign and that cut into our vacation time,” Lyles said. “I’m trying to be a better boyfriend and give a lot more time for us to be a couple.”