Lyles wins 150m at Atlanta Games

ATLANTA — Noah Lyles retained the upper hand in his rivalry with fellow American Erriyon Knighton, taking first place in the 150 metres at the Atlanta City Games as he steps up preparations to defend his 200m crown at this year’s World Championships.

Lyles, bronze medallist at the Tokyo Games, scorched to victory in 14.56 seconds to become the third-fastest athlete of all time over the distance behind Jamaican Usain Bolt and compatriot Tyson Gay.

The 150m is not a World Athletics-recognised event.

Teenager Knighton, who took bronze at last year’s World Championships, finished second in 14.85 in the inaugural edition of the tournament in Atlanta, Georgia.

Third-placed Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya clocked a time of 14.89 seconds to better Namibian Frankie Fredericks’s mark of 14.99 and set a new African record, adding to his African men’s 100m record.

Earlier, United States’ Olympic silver medallist Kendra Harrison finished second in the women’s 100m hurdles behind Tia Jones.

This year’s world championships are scheduled to take place in Budapest, Hungary from Aug. 19-27.

Lyles, who three world championship gold medals, took the race in 14.56 seconds, a time that puts him behind only Usain Bolt (14.35) and Tyson Gay (14.41) over the distance.

Bolt ran his 14.35 in a race in Manchester, England, in 2009, while Gay’s time was set en-route in a 200m straight race in the same city a year later.

The previous fastest 150m time by an African was 14.99, set by Frankie Fredericks of Namibia in 1993 en-route to a 200m.

As it is not a World Athletics-recognised distance, world records are not kept for the 150m.

World Athletics recognises a world best performance over 150m, but only for races on a track with a bend, and run to that exact distance (times en-route to 200m are not recognised).

By that measure, the world best performance belongs to Great Britain’s Linford Christie, who ran 14.97 in a 150m bend race in Sheffield in 1994.

Also in Atlanta, Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist Grant Holloway easily took the 110 metre hurdles race in a world-leading 13.01 seconds.

Jamaica’s Oblique Seville broke the 10-second barrier to win the men’s 100m in 9.99 seconds, while the women’s 100m was won by Olympic relay silver medallist Aleia Hobbs in 10.99.