Noah Lyles wins gold in men’s 200m at Olympic trials in record time

EUGENE — Noah Lyles continued his domination of the men’s sprints Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field.

Lyles beat Kenny Bednarek in the final stretch of the men’s 200 meters final to win the race in a record time of 19.53 seconds ahead of 12,175. The record of 19.66 seconds had been held by the great Michael Johnson since 1996 .

Bednarek, who battled Lyles over the final 60 meters, was second in 19.59 seconds. Erriyon Knighton was third in 19.77 seconds.

Former Oregon star Kyree King was in the photo at the finish line. He finished fifth in 19.90. Christian Coleman finished fourth.

Lyles started the race with a plan, but early in the race he had to improvise.

“Kenny got off to a good start,” Lyles said. “The plan was actually to engulf him in the first 50 meters. He made sure that this work was not done. I felt like he was definitely working on something. I guess that was it.

So Lyles changed gears on the straight.

As he explained: “I thought, ‘All right. Don’t panic. I have been here several times before. We’re going to get to the last 80. He is about to fall. And I’m going to surpass him. That’s what happened.”

Not exactly. Bednarek stayed upright, but he started to get upset towards the end of the race.

He said he felt it starting to happen and all he could do was say, “Oh (expletive).”

Still, building a second consecutive Olympic team is not a bad day’s work. Bednarek will compete in Paris in the 100 and 200.

“I can show America my talents and show the world what I have in store for them,” Bednarek said. “It’s a dream come true. I always dreamed of running the 100 and 200 and trying to become one of the best people on earth. And I have the opportunity to do it. »

It’s not like Bednarek had a mediocre race. He also bettered Johnson’s 28-year-old record and recorded a personal best.

“Most of the time it was just going out there and not looking back,” Bednarek said. “That’s what I did. The first half of the race was great. The second half was just little things I had to work out, not tense up and I’d be good.”

Knighton, already a two-time world championship medalist by age 20, felt lucky to be in Eugene. He tested positive in March for the performance enhancer trenbolone. He said the positive test was triggered by eating contaminated meat.

He wasn’t cleared to compete until the trials. But if Knighton was rusty when he arrived in Eugene, it wasn’t obvious.

He insisted he was competing in good conscience.

“In my heart, I never did anything wrong,” he said. “I have always been a clean athlete. This is my first time competing in a comeback competition, and it’s a relief to have made the team. I’m always grateful to be able to walk the track. »

He said he continued training after his positive test.

“Everything was going well,” he said. “I was just biding my time to run.”

Here are the results of the Olympic trials.

— Ken Goe for The Oregonian/OregonLive