Of all the athletes who have graduated from Alexandria City High School, none have hit it as big as Noah Lyles ‘16, the recently crowned fastest man alive.
It felt like the whole world was holding its breath. The men’s 100-meter dash, the flagship track race of the 2024 Paris Olympics, had just completed. The race was the photo-finish of photo-finishes – Jamaican Kishane Thompson held a strong lead, but American Fred Kerley and South African Akani Simbine caught up over the course of the race. The favorite, American Noah Lyles had a slow start, but pushed himself to the front of the pack in the final five meters. NBC’s commentator, Leigh Diffey, initially called the race for Thompson, but was forced to retract, as Olympic Committee members rushed over to the review booth to examine the video. And for 31 seconds, the entire stadium was still.
Then, in his signature showmanship fashion, Alexandria native and ACHS alumnus Noah Lyles leaped into the air, peeling off his nameplate and holding it up to the crowd. At once, roars erupted in Paris, Alexandria and all over the United States. Lyles had won gold by five thousandths of a second, breaking a 20 year drought in which no American had won the medal. His name made its way from ‘great’ to ‘legendary’ status in the track & field world.
“It sounds about right,” Lyles said in an interview with Theogony when asked how it felt to hear his name uttered among track & field legends like Usain Bolt. “That was the plan, and I’m not done yet.”
While the fastest man alive is known for his bold attitude and fearless demeanor, he hails from humble beginnings.
“I’ve been in the track world for a long time,” Lyles said.
Both of his parents were star track athletes. His father, Kevin Lyles, ran for Adidas and even won a 400m medal in the 1995 World Championships.
The younger Lyles began his track & field career at age “nine or ten,” though his main focus was on the high jump. It wasn’t until eighth grade, while he was attending Francis C. Hammond Middle School, that he decided to run “a few 200s.”
“I figured out I was really good at it,” Lyles said. “So I just started doing high jump and 200, and I threw the 100 in there too.”
After graduating from Hammond, Lyles continued on to Alexandria City High School, then called T.C. Williams, where he continued running track with his brother, Josephus.
There, the two track stars set their foundation for success.
“Me and my brother and my mom knew that we had big dreams and big aspirations,” Lyles said. “But we knew that it wouldn’t be easy to do by ourselves, so we formed a team.”
After quickly finding success on the city and state level, where he beat school and state records in the 100m and 200m, it did not take long for Lyles to aim higher.
“We realized we wanted to go to the Olympics,” Lyles said. “We wanted to turn professional, and we wanted to make the Olympic team.”
As a sophomore he worked toward that goal, winning a 200m gold medal in the 2014 Youth Olympics. The next year he was named the high school boys athlete of the year by Track & Field News. After the success, Lyles realized his ultimate goal – the Olympics.
Behind all this success, according to Lyles, was Rashawn Jackson, a longtime T.C. track and field coach. Jackson, who passed away on June 30 of this year, and Lyles formed a special relationship right when they met.
“Coach Rashawn taught me how to have fun with it,” Lyles said. “We were just trying to prove that we were the fastest in the state. But he never put a lot of pressure on us.”
Lyles dedicated his gold medal victory to Jackson, posting on X, “Hey Coach Rashawn, that one was for you RIP️”
After high school, Lyles committed to the University of Florida, but backed out to sign with Adidas and pursue his track and field career.
“I didn’t wanna go to college, so it was a pretty easy decision,” Lyles said.
Lyles viewed college as a plan B, as his main goal was always to pursue professional track and field.
“College was the backup plan for sure,” Lyles said, adding he “informed every college coach that we were planning on turning professional if the opportunity arose.”
Sure enough, that opportunity came shortly after Lyles committed to the University of Florida. He had his first meeting with his agent, Mark Wetmore, and he “told him that we wanted to go international, we wanted to change the sport, and we wanted to be basically the greatest athletes that have ever come out of track and field.”
“He heard our vision and he heard our message,” Lyles said. “And he said, ‘You know what? I believe that I can help you boys along that journey.’”
Although Lyles won his semifinal in the 2016 Olympic qualifiers, he finished fourth overall and did not qualify for the Rio Games. “I feel that every Olympic year, there’s something in the season that reminds me the job’s not done,” Lyles said. “In 2016, it was not making the team.”
However, Lyles used that setback as motivation to further himself to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where he competed in the men’s 200 meter race. A challenge that he faced in that Olympics was the lack of a crowd due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I’m a showman, and a showman needs a crowd,” Lyles said. “So when there’s no crowd, there’s no energy. And when there’s no energy, there’s no fun. Being in an empty stadium where you can hear a pin drop at any moment and think to yourself, ‘this is supposed to be the biggest moment of my career.’ It’s very anticlimactic.”
Despite this challenge, Lyles took home the bronze medal. However, he was not satisfied.
“The job wasn’t done,” he said, “getting bronze, but not getting gold.”
Noah Lyles used that motivation to come back for the 2024 Olympics in Paris where he would win a bronze medal in the men’s 200m and a gold medal in the men’s 100m, beating out Jamaica’s Thompson by just .0005 seconds to bring home the gold.
“Personally, it was the longest three minutes I’ve ever had to wait in my life,” Lyles said about waiting for the photo finish results to come through. “We were just staring at the screen and pacing back and forth. Nobody knew who won. I was thinking ‘Did I get 3rd? Did I even get a medal?’ I truly didn’t know where I was in that race. That’s how close it was.”
Despite his success in 2024, Noah Lyles is not finished. He plans to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I have a lot of big plans,” Lyles said. “How many doors can we open up? How many businesses can we start? How many partnerships can we create? How much networking can we do? I could show up at fashion shows and show up at US Opens and they could put me on TV, but, you know, what else are we gonna do? How can I use what I have now to get it done?”
While Noah Lyles has seen a tremendous amount of success throughout his career, it did not come without struggle. Lyles suffers from asthma, and has dealt with mental health problems through his career such as anxiety, depression, and learning disabilities such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
“Very early on, I learned that I am someone who can persevere through anything and everything.” said Lyles.
He noted that life can sometimes feel hopeless, but that feeling will not last forever.
“Just because I’m in a valley doesn’t mean I won’t make it back up to the top of the mountain,” Lyles said.
To cap off the interview, Theogony asked Noah Lyles what his advice would be to a ninth grader trying to pursue track and field in the same way that he did.
“It’s okay to change,” Lyles said. “It’s okay for it not to go the way you see it in your head. Have fun along the way. When it gets hard and it looks like there’s no way out, it’s gonna be the love that you have for the sport that’s gonna keep you going.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that Rashawn Jackson, a mentor and coach of Noah Lyles, passed away on July 1, 2024. In actuality, he passed away on June 30, 2024. The article has been updated to reflect this information. Theogony regrets the error.
