Category: Track & Field

Noah Lyles posted a precious engagement video with fiancée Junelle Bromfield

Congratulations are in order for Noah Lyles and his girlfriend, Junelle.

Track and field Olympian Noah Lyles is an engaged man.

During Lyles’ whirlwind 2024 Paris Olympics, his girlfriend, Junelle Bromfield, was by his side as he ran his way to a gold medal and became the fastest man in the world. At the time, Lyles said, “I got pretty big plans for a celebration,” which might have meant spending the rest of their lives together.

Lyles and Bromfield shared videos on their social media Sunday of heir recent engagement, Bromfield’s gorgeous ring and huge smiles of joy. There were also a lot of flowers, candles, and even mini-fireworks to make the occasion. Congratulations to the happy couple!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBEr5NzPK7A/?igsh=ZmJkNGI0OGh0ZDl1

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBEx_AcRoMs/?igsh=Z204cnEwMnQ5em04

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Lady Gators cross country moves up in USTFCCCA Coaches Poll

Florida’s cross country team gained some ground in the first regular-season coaches poll despite competing in just one event so far.

Florida’s women’s cross country team moved up two spots in the USTFCCCA Coaches Poll’s first regular-season edition, stepping up from eighth in the preseason poll to sixth in the Week 1 update.

Despite not running a full roster at the season-opening UCF Invite back in late August, the Gators finished second in the event with strong times for those who did compete. That represents the only action the squad has seen so far this fall.

Other Southeastern Conference schools mentioned in the Coaches Poll top 25 are the ninth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, 11th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and 12th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks.

The Orange and Blue remain the top team in the USTFCCCA South Region ahead of No. 15 Tennessee and No. 16 Alabama.

USTFCCCA Coaches’ Poll Week-By-Week

SCHOOL PRESEASON WEEK 1
NC State 1 1
Northern Arizona 1 2
Notre Dame 3 3
Oregon 4 4
Washington 5 5
Florida 8 6
BYU 6 7
Stanford 7 8
Tennessee 10 9
Providence 9 10
Alabama 12 11
Arkansas 13 12
Lipscomb 11 13
Utah 14 14
Georgetown 16 15
Oklahoma State 15 16
Virginia 17 16
North Carolina 28 18
Wisconsin 19 19
Michigan State 18 20
New Mexico 20 21
Boston College 21 22
Gonzaga 25 23
Northwestern RV 24
Utah Valley 23 25

Next on Gators’ cross country schedule

Florida’s next meet will take place in Columbia, Missouri, in the Gans Creek Classic from Friday, Sept. 27 to Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

NFL fans roasted Tyreek Hill for suggesting he’d only race Noah Lyles in a 50-yard sprint

Tyreek Hill is already moving the goal posts with Noah Lyles.

One of the lingering stories from the Paris Olympics has been the “feud” between Miami Dolphins star receiver Tyreek Hill and 100-meter men’s gold medalist Noah Lyles.

When Lyles (correctly) said NFL Super Bowl champions are not “world champions,” Hill took exception. He came at Lyles by saying he could actually beat him in a race. Later, during an NBC Sports interview, Lyles trolled Hill, claiming he didn’t even know who the Dolphins playmaker was.

On Sunday morning, Hill circled back to some recent comments from Lyles challenging the receiver to a race as long as he’s “serious” about it and not just talking trash on the internet.

There’s one important caveat.

Hill set the parameters at 50 yards, not 100 meters, as everyone had initially assumed (and as Hill himself had maintained) while following this back-and-forth. Why, it’s almost as if he’ll only race Lyles under conditions he’s comfortable in — a 50-yard sprint would clearly favor/help a short distance-oriented professional football player:

Oh, come on.

I can’t lie. Hill coming back at Lyles while saying he’d race him for 50 yards is pretty weak. If he thinks he’s faster than the world-class sprinter, he’d race him at any distance, but especially 100 yards. Hill suggesting 50 yards is him leaning on his wheelhouse — the Dolphins’ speedster is known for turning on the jets in 50-yard bursts past helpless cornerbacks. And if he were to lose in 50 yards to Lyles, he could probably make the outcome look a lot closer than it should be.

But all of this was never the implicit discussion anyway. It just makes Hill look fearful of losing to Lyles.

Naturally, fans on Twitter called out Hill for suggesting a 50-yard race with Lyles.

Noah Lyles denied a rumor that he disrespected Anthony Edwards’ adidas signature shoe release

Noah Lyles is walking back comments he reportedly made about NBA star Anthony Edwards.

Two of the biggest stars from the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics were Noah Lyles and Anthony Edwards.

Lyles and Edwards both became first-time Olympic gold medalists this summer. Before testing positive for COVID-19 and withdrawing from the Olympics this year, Lyles won a gold medal in the 100 meter for track and field. Edwards was a standout performer on the U.S. men’s basketball roster.

Both gold medalists have signed endorsement deals with the shoe company adidas. Recent reporting suggests that there is potentially animosity between the two, but Lyles is attempting to squash those growing rumors.

Included in a recent feature about Lyles is an anecdote about why the sprinter did not attend a shoe-release event for Edwards. Here is more (via TIME):

When Lyles was negotiating an Adidas contract extension last year, the company, he says, threw him what it thought was a bone. Adidas invited him to the shoe-release event for Anthony Edwards, the rising Minnesota Timberwolves star who’s got plenty of talent but, unlike Lyles, isn’t a six-time world champ. “You want to do what?” says Lyles. “You want to invite me to [an event for] a man who has not even been to an NBA Finals? In a sport that you don’t even care about? And you’re giving him a shoe? No disrespect: the man is an amazing athlete. He is having a heck of a year. I love that they saw the insight to give him a shoe, because they saw that he was going to be big. All I’m asking is, ‘How could you not see that for me?’”

Lyles, who wondered last year whether or not NBA Finals winners should call themselves world champions, has raised some eyebrows from basketball players and fans.

His reported comments about Edwards’ signature shoe would add further fuel to that fire, especially because the Timberwolves guard is one of the faces of the brand.

But he is creating some distance between himself and the comments that he allegedly made to TIME. He is now suggesting that he could not attend the event based on scheduling conflicts.

He added that Edwards is an “amazing player” and congratulated the former No. 1 overall pick on also becoming a champion at the Olympics.

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16-year-old Quincy Wilson makes history after U.S. gold in 4×400 relays

What a summer for the Maryland high schooler.

On Friday, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson made history as he became the youngest male track and field athlete to compete in the Olympics. The sophomore at Maryland’s Bullis School ran the first leg of the 4×400 relay, helping the men’s team qualify for Saturday’s finals.

MORE: 7 photos of Masai Russell’s photo finish to win Olympic women’s 100m hurdles gold

One day later, he’s an Olympic gold medalist. The U.S. relay team of Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin set a new Olympic Record in the event with a 2:54.43. As a member of the team, Wilson gets to take home the hardware, too.

In the stands, Wilson was understandably elated.

Congrats to Team U.S.A., and Wilson has quite the story for his friends back in Maryland when school starts back up.

Sha’Carri Richardson painted ‘I’m not back. I’m better’ on her nails before winning 4x100m gold

Absolutely golden nails for a gold medal Olympian.

Yes, Sha’Carri Richardson was wearing “I’m not back. I’m better” nails after winning a gold medal in the women’s 4×100-meter relay.

Nobody was stopping Sha’Carri from winning gold for Team USA on Friday. Not the rain, her competitors — NOTHING. After she delivered the nastiest look back at the field and then CRUISED to the finish line, it was OVER.

But for me, the message is in the details. Cameras caught a glimpse of Sha’Carri’s nails post-race, and you guessed it. They were decorated in the Olympic rings, jewels and American flag-themed colors, and her signature phrase was written on the thumbs. Outstanding.

Here’s a few more photos of her nails in all their glory:

US’ Sha’Carri Richardson celebrates after winning the women’s 4x100m relay final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 9, 2024. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 09: A detailed view of Sha’carri Richardson’s of Team United States nails after competing in the Women’s 4x100m Relay Final on day fourteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 09, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 776138767 ORIG FILE ID: 2166069856
Aug 9, 2024; Paris Saint-Denis, France; Sha’carri Richardson (USA) celebrates after winning the women’s 4x100m relay during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Stade de France. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Nelles-USA TODAY Sports

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4 photos of the failed men’s 4×100 baton pass that cost Team USA at the Olympics once again

This was MESSY from Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek.

It was another disaster for Team USA men’s track and field during the 4×100 meter relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Shortly after the Sha’Carri Richardson and the Team USA women’s track and field team won gold at the same event, the men were disqualified when it was their turn to compete.

Team USA men’s was competing without anchor Noah Lyles, who sat out after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this week. But his presence would not have impacted the results much considering the team was DQ’d before he would have had his chance to run.

As you can see in the video above, USA’s Kenny Bednarek took off before his teammate Christian Coleman could give him the baton. This is a violation of the rules (via Olympics.com):

“The baton exchange has to happen within a 20m changeover box, located 10m before and 10m after the start of each leg, starting from the second relay runner.

A team can be disqualified if any member drops the baton during the handover or if the handover occurs outside the designated area. The runner finishing the race will generally be the fastest sprinter in a team.”

You can see that violation happening in the photos below:

REUTERS/Phil Noble

 

REUTERS/Phil Noble

 

REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

 

REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

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Tara Davis-Woodhall and her husband, Hunter, gleefully celebrating her Olympic gold medal is pure joy

“Tara, you’re the Olympic champion!”

Don’t mind me. I’m just currently in SHAMBLES over Olympian Tara Davis-Woodhall celebrating her gold medal win with her Paralympian husband, Hunter Woodhall.

As if Tara’s long jump was impressive enough, she immediately ran to her husband to celebrate afterward and wholesomely jumped into his arms like it was a scene from a movie.  The pair began screaming with glee before Hunter looked into Tara’s eyes and said, “Oh, my God, baby. You’re an Olympic champion!”

He then told her to go see her coach, dad and mom before saying again, “Tara, you’re the Olympic champion!” I MEAN, COME ON, HUNTER AND TARA. It’s suddenly so dusty in here that my eyes are sweating. This is just so precious. If your spouse doesn’t celebrate you like this, you just gotta throw the whole spouse away. I don’t make the rules.

But it didn’t stop there. Tara and Hunter made this awesome video on the track using a Kanye West soundbite, and this is 10/10 content.

Noah Lyles posted a bittersweet message to Instagram after withdrawing from the Paris Olympics

Noah Lyles announced that he’s done competing at this year’s Olympics.

Team USA track and field superstar Noah Lyles‘ 2024 Paris Olympics journey has come to a close.

After he took the bronze in the 200 meter relay and revealed he ran the Olympic race with a COVID diagnosis, Lyles shared on Instagram in a bittersweet post that he would not compete in any other track and field events in Paris this week.

“I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics,” Lyles wrote in the message. “It is not the Olympic I dreamed of but it has left me with so much Joy in my heart. I hope everyone enjoyed the show.”

Lyles took the gold in the 100 meter relay for Team USA before taking the bronze in the 200m on Thursday.

You can read the full message below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-bNeapvGfV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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Letsile Tebogo teased Noah Lyles after winning the 200m gold medal: ‘I’m not an arrogant or a loud person’

The gold medal winner was brutally honest about why he won’t become the face of the sport

Botswana’s Letsile Tobogo had his moment during the men’s 200-meter final at the Paris Olympics on Thursday. The athlete cruised to the gold medal with a time of 19.46, outpacing Team USA’s Kenny Bednarek (silver) and Noah Lyles (bronze), who was notably battling a case of COVID-19.

After the event, Tebogo took questions from the media. He was appropriately asked if he had any ambitions about being one of the faces of sprinting worldwide. In a very matter-of-fact fashion — I’m talking with a completely straight face — Tebogo said he probably couldn’t be one of the faces because he’s not as “loud or arrogant” as Lyles.

It’s not surprising that Tebogo would say something like this. Lyles’ general brashness probably hasn’t exactly endeared him to his fellow competitors. Lyles’ well-publicized beef with NBA superstars might just be the tip of the iceberg there.

It is worth noting that Lyles did congratulate Tebogo after the race:

Kudos to Tebogo for saying something like this after actually beating Lyles, though. That man is almost certainly on top of the world for beating one of his top rivals. He’s earned the right to pontificate as he pleases.

And the irony of it? Even if he might not have meant for it to sound like trash talk, talking about Lyles like this in public is precisely what could make Tebogo one of the faces of sports.