Noah Lyles and Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill have gone back and forth about who is the world’s “fastest man” and now it seems they are close to deciding who deserves the title.
In an interview with People Magazine published on Thursday, both athletes said they will race in 2025, but will not reveal a date, location or distance — yet. Hill wanted to race a 40m dash, while Lyle’s wanted 100m and now it seems the race will be a distance between both marks.
Both athletes have spent months taking lighthearted jabs at each other in the media and at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on February 2, Lyles won the 60m final in 6.52 and tore off his bib.
A message written on the inside of the bib read, “Tyreek could never.”
“I think it speaks for itself,” Lyles said in the interview about the message directed toward Hill. “Everybody says that they’re gonna be the world’s fastest, but when it comes down to it, you gotta be the winner every time, each and every time, and every time I show up to the biggest moments, I win.”
Hill, meanwhile, was adamant that he has the ability to not only beat Lyles, but finally put an end to a mini war of words that dates back to 2023.
“This has been an ongoing thing for, quite some time now, and I mean, everybody’s seen the back and forth on social media,” Hill said in the interview. “I’ve been very adamant to show people what real, true speed looks like.”
At the World Championships in Budapest in August 2023, Lyles spoke with reporters about the improvements he wanted to see in track and field’s profile on the world stage. But it was his comments about other sports leagues that drew backlash — and the attention of Hill.
“You know the thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘world champion’ on their head,” Lyles said at the time. “World champion of what? The United States? Don’t get me wrong, I love the U.S. – at times – but that ain’t the world.”
A flurry of comments and criticism flowed immediately after Lyles’ statement, including remarks from high profile NBA players like Kevin Durant, his Phoenix Suns teammate Devin Booker and Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green.
“Somebody help this brother,” Durant said on social media in response.
“When being smart goes wrong,” Green posted along with the face-palm emoji. Devin Booker echoed Green’s sentiment with a similar facepalm emoji on social media.
Meanwhile, Hill was a guest on Kay Adams’ podcast last August that he could defeat Lyles in a 50-yard sprint.
After Lyles’ stunning 9.79 win in the men’s 100m final at the Paris Olympics — barely edging past Kishane Thompson — Lyles kept the window open to race Hill, but at a comparable distance suited for sprinters.
“But it has to be legit, I’m not here to do gimmicks,” Lyles said in a interview with NBC Sports after his win in Paris. “You’re racing against a guy who has worked his whole life to get the title of the world’s fastest man, and you’ve worked to be a great football player. You can’t just jump the line because you’re a great football player.”
Now, the latest chapter the growing rivalry seems to gain a bit more focus even if the hard details are still up in the air.
Lyles has embraced taking on a few side missions in between his duties on the track, like his friendly race against streamer IShowSpeed in November with popular YouTuber MrBeast on hand to stage the event.
“That’s why I’m the world’s fastest,” Lyles said in the interview with People. “I did at the Olympics. I do it at world championships. I do it wherever it’s needed to be done. And if I gotta go down and, you know, beat up on Tyreek to prove that I’m the world’s fastest, then it’s gonna be done.”
