Noah and Josephus Lyles encouraged by opener

By Ka’Deem Wynn for DyeStat 

Sibling sprinters Noah and Josephus Lyles entered the 2017 outdoor season over the weekend. 

The two adidas athletes made their outdoor debuts as professionals at the Pure Athletics Spring Invitational last weekend in Florida at the National Training Center in Clermont, kicking off some rust from the recent indoor season. 

Noah opened the season with the 100-meter dash, with Josephus running the 200. 

Noah, who became one of the fastest sprinters in prep history for T.C. Williams VA in 2016, ran a wind-aided 9.95 (+4.3) for a second-place finish in the 100. In March, he broke the world indoor record in the 300 meters at the USATF Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M.

“I was excited to see 9.95 on the board,” he said. “I knew it would be wind-aided but I didn’t care. I was just happy to see the ‘9’ on the board.” 

Josephus, who lost much of his 2016 season with an injury, opened up in the 200, running a wind-aided 21.07 (+3.6). He took to Twitter after his run, saying, “Rough race but I gotta start somewhere.”

Despite Josephus not being content, Noah said that it was nice to see his brother finally getting back to racing. 

“It was really sad when he got hurt last year and to see him not run,” Noah said. 

Josephus had high school bests of 20.73 in the 200 and 45.46 in the 400 before getting hurt. 

While Josephus takes a short break from racing, Noah is travelling this week to Nassau, Bahamas to compete for the U.S. at the third edition of the IAAF World Relays. He’ll make his U.S. senior team debut in the 4x200 relay after competing in the World U-20 Championships in July in Poland. 

“I’m not going to treat this any different,” he said. “I’m going to go in with the mindset of winning and having fun.” 

Noah is set to run with the relay Saturday. The prelims and finals are on the same day.

After World Relays, Noah and Josephus will race at the Tom Jones Memorial meet April 28 at the University of Florida.