The Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26, are set to go down as the Noah Lyles Games. If Lyles, 26, repeats his Budapest feats and wins the 100-m, 200-m, and 4 × 100-m relay golds, he’ll be the first American track-and-field athlete since Carl Lewis, 40 years ago, to win that triple, and the first male athlete to do so since Usain Bolt in 2016. Now Bolt is no longer in the starting blocks, and Michael Phelps is out of the water. Katie Ledecky is in the pool but a more low-key presence, and everyone already knows Simone Biles is a legend. The stage appears set for the World’s Fastest Man, the title Lyles took with his 100-m win at worlds, to steal the show. He’s even made noise about chasing a fourth gold, in the 4 × 400-m relay. No male track athlete has ever won that many sprint golds at a Games. (Americans Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, and Alvin Kraenzlein each won a fourth, but in the long jump.)
