Kenny Bednarek pushes Noah Lyles after 200m final at fiery US championships

Australia Broadcast Center

3 days ago

The US track championships turned physical on Monday, Australia time, with Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek getting involved in a shoving and shouting match as they crossed the finish line of a hotly contested 200 metre final at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Lyles landed the day's biggest blow on the track, passing Bednarek for the win, then looked his way to talk some trash.
Bednarek's answer was a two-handed shove in the back after the finish line, some more heated words and a challenge for a rematch that cannot come soon enough.
Lyles reeled in Bednarek and crossed in 19.63 seconds for a 0.04-second victory that sets up a rematch at the World Athletics Championships on September 19 in Tokyo.
The best action in Round 1 of the 2025 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships came after the finish line. There was jawing, the shove and, then, Lyles turning around, back-pedalling, reaching his arms out and bouncing up and down like a boxer before lobbing a few more choice words at Bednarek.
Their argument bled into the start of what is normally a celebratory NBC winner's interview.
"I tell ya, if you've got a problem, I expect a call," Bednarek said, as the network's Lewis Johnson moved the mic between the runners.
Lyles replied: "You know what, you're right. You're right. Let's talk after this."
Though they shook hands during that tense post-race exchange, Bednarek was fired up well after the sprinters had left the track.
"The summary is, don't do that to me," he said.
"I don't do any of that stuff. It's not good character right there. That's pretty much it. At the end of the day, he won the race. I've got to give him props. He was the better man today."
The win itself was no big surprise for Lyles, the three-time defending world champion who will have to get past Bednarek to make it four in Tokyo.
Bednarek was asked what Lyles said as he turned around and gloated after securing his fifth national title at his favourite distance.
"What he said didn't matter; it's just what he did," Bednarek said.
Asked to expand on his role in the tiff, Lyles was less forthcoming: "On coach's orders, no comment."
As is common in a year after the Olympics — and in an era after Usain Bolt — track is a sport desperately in need of some energy. Who else to provide it than Lyles, the sport's most engaging character this side of Sha'Carri Richardson, who found herself in off-the-track headlines again this weekend.
Up to now, track media and the runners themselves have tried to generate rivalries between Lyles and Erriyon Knighton (fizzled), or Lyles and Letsile Tebogo (beat him in the Olympics last year), or, of course, between Lyles and NFL receiver Tyreek Hill (supposed grudge match never took place).
Turns out, they probably should have looked at the lane next to him. Bednarek has won silver and beaten Lyles the last two times they have lined up in the 200m at the Olympics, even though Lyles has had issues at both — in Tokyo with his mental health, then in Paris with COVID.
Bednarek referenced some long-simmering issues between the two.
"Just some personal stuff we've got to handle," he said.
But when asked for something, anything, about this burgeoning rivalry, Lyles demurred, instead focusing on what a difficult year this has been for him after an injury in April kept him out of spikes until June.
Bednarek is not so sure of that.
The 200m final was Bednarek's fifth race of the week, counting the three heats of the 100 meters, where he won the final Friday. Lyles, who has an automatic spot at worlds in that event as the defending champion, only ran one heat of the 100m.
"We'll go fresh and we'll see what happens," Bednarek said. "Because I'm very confident I can beat him. That's all I can say."
Sha'Carri Richardson narrowly missed qualifying for the 200m final on Monday (AEST), concluding what's been a tumultuous week for the sprinter in the Pacific Northwest.
Richardson wound up fourth in her heat in a time of 22.56 seconds. The top two finishers in each heat advance, along with the next three fastest times. Madison Whyte edged her out on time by running 22.55 seconds in the same heat.
A week ago, Richardson was arrested on a fourth-degree domestic violence offence for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend, sprinter Christian Coleman, at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. She was booked into South Correctional Entity (SCORE) in Des Moines, Washington, for more than 18 hours.
Days later, Richardson, 25, ran the opening round of the 100m at nationals before withdrawing from the event. She has an automatic spot to worlds next month in Tokyo as the defending 100m champion.
This was Richardson's first 200m race of the season. She won a bronze medal at the distance during the 2023 world championships in Budapest.
It was part of a stellar showing at worlds that season, as she also won the 100 and helped the 4x100 relay to a gold. A year later, Richardson finished with the silver medal in the 100 at the Paris Games.
Richardson had a positive marijuana test at the 2021 US Olympic trials and did not compete at the Tokyo Games.