Team USA gold medalist Noah Lyles has been issued a challenge by the man widely regarded to be the fastest player in the NFL.
During a Monday, August 12 appearance on Up & Adams, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill said he’d have no problem getting up on the blocks next to Lyles.
“I would beat Noah Lyles,” Hill, 30, told host Kay Adams.
When Adams, 38, asked Hill how close the race might be, Hill said, “I wouldn’t beat him by a lot.”
“But I would beat Noah Lyles,” Hill continued. “And guess what? When I beat him, I’m going to put on a COVID mask and let him know I mean business.”
Hill was referencing Lyles’ performance in the men’s 200m on Thursday, August 8, a race in which Lyles won the bronze medal two days after being diagnosed with COVID.
Lyles, 27, was seen wearing a mask before the race and almost immediately collapsed to the track after its completion, eventually being taken off in a wheelchair by the medical staff.
When Hill was asked about a controversial comment made by Lyles last year in which he rebuked the idea that league champions (i.e. the NBA, the NFL, etc.) should be called “world champions,” the six-time All Pro suggested Lyles wasn’t even sick during his Olympic race in the first place.
“Noah Lyles can’t stay nothin’ after what just happened to him, you know what I’m saying?” Hill boasted. “Then he wants to come out and pretend like he’s sick? I feel like that’s horseradish.”
Hill continued, “For him to do that and say that we’re not world champions of our sport? Come on, brother. Just speak on what you know about. And that’s track.”
In addition to his bronze in the 200m, Lyles won his first Olympic gold medal in Paris, winning the men’s 100m final on August 4 in a dramatic photo finish.
Us Weekly has reached out to representatives for Lyles.
Nicknamed “Cheetah,” Hill reached a speed of 22.01 miles per hour during a Week 5 touchdown last season, the highest speed of any player all year, according to Next Gen Stats.
A former track star at Coffee High School in Duluth, Georgia, Hill won both the 100m and 200m at the 2012 Georgia state meet as a junior.
His 200m time of 20.14 seconds missed the then-high school record by one-hundredth of a second.
For the record, Lyles’ bronze medal–winning 200m time in Paris was 19.70 seconds.
