Christian Coleman held off Noah Lyles in the 100m at the Bermuda Grand Prix in a taste of what July’s USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships could provide.
Coleman clocked 9.78 seconds with a 4.4 meter/second tailwind, which was more than twice the legal limit for record purposes. Lyles was second in 9.80.
Coleman, arguably the best starter in history as the world indoor 60m record holder, distanced Sunday’s field off the gun. Lyles used his world 200m champion speed to chase but came up just short.
Coleman, the world’s fastest 100m sprinter in the last Olympic cycle who missed the Tokyo Games while banned for missing drug tests, finished sixth at last July’s world championships in defense of his 2019 crown.
Bermuda marked Coleman’s first 100m since Aug. 8. The top three at USATF Outdoors join reigning world champion Fred Kerley on the U.S. 100m team for worlds in August in Budapest. Coleman is part of a deep group of contenders, including the two men who joined Kerley on the all-American podium at last year’s worlds — Marvin Bracy-Williams and Trayvon Bromell.
“I think I’ve got a good shot,” Coleman told Lewis Johnson on NBC.
Lyles, who has a bye into the 200m at worlds as defending champion, will bid to make the world team in the 100m for the first time.
He is the joint-fifth-fastest man in the world this year behind Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala (9.84), Kerley(9.88 earlier Sunday in his 2023 100m debut), Bahamian Terrence Jones (9.91) and South African Akani Simbine (9.92), though it is still the early stages of the outdoor season.
Also in Bermuda, Tamari Davis won a women’s 100m that included several top Americans. Davis, fourth at last year’s nationals, prevailed Sunday in 10.91 seconds. Davis’ best time this year is
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