Injury forces Lyles from Ultimate Championships

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP):

Olympic champion sprinter Noah Lyles has shut down his season because of injury and will not compete for the US$150,000 top prize at this week’s World Athletics Ultimate Championships.

Lyles, who grabbed his left hamstring and pulled up in the final of the 200 metres at the US national championships in July, said on social media that he later discovered he had a “small strain” after the race.

The injury, he said, “caused some other things to flare up, and it’s made it hard for me to continue practising”.

Lyles’ name was absent from the entry list released yesterday by World Athletics for the inaugural event, which begins on Friday.

The 29-year-old, who won Olympic gold in the 100 metres in Paris and is a four-time world champion over 200m, had been expected to be one of the biggest attractions at the Ultimate Championships.

The meet will bring together world and Olympic champions from the past two seasons, along with other highly ranked athletes, to compete for a share of a US$10-million prize pool.

Lyles said he will still be in Budapest, where he will serve as an emcee and “creative adviser”.

“I still think there’s going to be an amazing competition and I’m excited to watch that,” he said.

Lyles ran 9.79 seconds at the national championships, the fastest time in the world this year over 100m. Next on the list is Jamaica’s Olympic champion Oblique Seville, who clocked 9.82 at the Jamaican Championships.

The men’s 200m will now feature American Kenny Bednarek and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who won Olympic gold in Paris on the night Lyles finished third and later revealed he had COVID-19.

The women’s sprint events will include the return of Sha’Carri Richardson to the track where she won the world title in 2023. Her main challengers are expected to be Diamond League winner Tina Clayton of Jamaica and reigning world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who is also entered in the 200m against Olympic champion Gabby Thomas.