“The hundred will be a lot closer once I get the first 10 metres down, so I’d say we’re still quite a few years away from that one. But the 200? Two years max,” said Noah Lyles back in 2023, talking of Usain Bolt’s World Record. It’s 2025, the World Athletics Championships are going on, and the 200m World Champion had everyone in shock after his 19.51s in just the 200m semifinals. Though the commentators made a statement that has angered the track and field community.

“He’s challenging for what??? Do these commentators know what 19.19s is?” tweeted Nationwide90FM’s host Kareem after Noah Lyles’ race. A commentator might have dared to say that Lyles’ after today 19.51, might be going for Usain Bolt’s 19.19s that came at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, on 20 August 2009. For those who are aware, that is the fastest time ever recorded in the 200m to date. It turns out that comparing Lyles to Bolt is not sitting well with the fans.

A fan even said, “They say this every year. No need to get up in arms about it. Obviously, we are more sensible than some of these commentators 🙄“. Reaching the 19.19s is no joke; even Bolt couldn’t get near it. His second-fastest legal time is 19.30 seconds, which he ran when he won gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The closest Noah Lyles has come to that mark is the 19.31s he clocked in the 200m finals of the 2022 World Championships in Eugene. On top of that, Bolt himself does trust that Noah can do it.

Bolt was in Tokyo to attend his first World Athletics Championships since his retirement back in 2017. Before the event began, he attended a Puma event in the city where he said, “Records are bound to be broken someday.”But with a grin, he also added, “However, there is no one in particular who looks likely to be able to break it right now. I’m not worried.” Matter of fact, Kishane Thompson, Oblique Seville, and Noah Lyles were not in the GOAT’s list of breaking the world record. But since the commentators made the comparison, the fangoing not going easy on them.

Commentators criticized over Noah Lyles’ comment

Targeting the commentators, a user said, “They don’t run, obviously. It’s like finishing second in a 5k with 22mins and saying you were close to the guy who finished in first place with 20mins🤣.” The gap between the two times is insanely huge; it’s 12 hundredths of a second. Dropping that much in between two races, after you have run an exhausting 19.51s, it’s not impossible, but it’s no less than that either.

Another person wrote, “No! They don’t, and it’s crazy considering they are supposed to be world-class??? The commentators at this world championship and the last Olympics have been talking crazily!!!! But are we surprised tho?🌚” An example of how bad things were in Paris last year is how Eurosport commentator Bob Ballard was removed from their commentary lineup after making a sexist remark about Australia’s women’s 4×100m freestyle relay team.

Some fans also brought in another target for Noah Lyles before he gets to Bolt. “Exactly… However before 19.19 there is 19.26!,” read one comment, while another said, “Forget 19.19 He needs to get past 19.26 first“. Both of these refer to Lyles breaking the second fastest time ever recorded in the 200m, clocked by Jamaica’s very own Yohan Blake in Bruxelles Memorial van Damme back in 2011.