Noah Lyles' long-awaited race with Tyreek Hill canceled over mysterious ‘personal reasons'

New York Post

7 hours ago

Noah Lyles has shared new details on why his race with Tyreek Hill never happened.
At the Sport Beach event in Cannes, France, Monday, the Olympic gold medalist revealed that the showdown with the NFL speedster was supposed to have happened this weekend in Times Square, but it fell through due to 'complications' and 'personal reasons.'
'We were very deep into creating the event. In fact, it was supposed to happen this weekend,' Lyles said. 'Unfortunately there were some things, complications, personal reasons that it just didn't come to pass, but we were full on.
'We were gonna have a big event, we were going to shut down New York Times Square and everything, we were gonna have all the billboards for the event, it was going to be a lot of fun.'
Lyles, an American sprinter who competes in the 60-meter, 100-meter and 200-meter dash, won gold at the 2024 Olympics in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 9.784.
He's widely considered the fastest man in the world, but that hasn't stopped Hill from claiming he could beat Lyles in a race.
Noah Lyles is widely considered the fastest man in the world right currently.
AFP via Getty Images
There has been plenty of trash talk between the two over the past year about a potential race — and Lyles was adamant that it was going to happen, even if people doubted it would.
'A lot of people didn't believe it to be true. They thought it was just, 'Oh, this is just them talking online,'' Lyles said. 'We had to bring it to fruition.'
Lyles said both the general public and potential corporate sponsors 'didn't believe it was real,' but that he took charge in an effort to make it happen.
'It's like, 'Don't worry, I'll take care of this. I know what to do. And it's not going to look to the point where it's staged. It's going to look right on the money, trust me,'' Lyles said.
Even though the logistics for the event never fell into place, Hill is still challenging Lyles to a race.
Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill celebrating a touchdown during a game in September 2022.
Getty Images
The Dolphins wide receiver ran a 10.15 100-meter dash at the Last Chance Sprint Series on Friday, holding up a sign afterwards that read, 'Noah could never.'
Lyles, of course, has proven that he can, with his 9.784 time at the 2024 Games in Paris.
The exact complications and personal reasons for why the race never occurred are unclear.
Hill was reportedly involved in a domestic disturbance with his ex-wife, Keeta, in April.
Hill has a track record of off-field issues, which includes a domestic assault conviction in 2015 and a child abuse investigation in 2019.