Noah Lyles pulls up mid-race at U.S. nationals, suffers a rare loss in 200 metres

Noah Lyles pulled up halfway through the 200-meter final at U.S. track championships Sunday, suffering a rare loss in his best race and allowing USC's Garrett Kaalund to take the title.

In the women's race at Icahn Stadium in New York — the site of Usain Bolt's first world record, back in 2008 — reigning world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden cruised to her second straight national title in a season-best 21.69.

Lyles, the four-time world champion at the distance, was in decent shape rounding the turn, but as he pulled into the stretch, he slowed and shut it down. He made it to the finish line to congratulate Kaalund, a 22-year-old who won NCAA indoors at the distance earlier this year. Kaalund's winning time was 20.04.

"I just felt a grabbing sensation. I was like, `Yeah, this is the time to stop. There's no reason to push this,"' said Lyles, who stays tied with Michael Johnson with five U.S. titles at 200 meters. "It was a somewhat of a cramp. I'm fine. I just need to get stretched out, get some electrolytes in my system, but I'll be good."

American Noah Lyles sprints to men's 150m world best time of 14.67 seconds

This marked only the fourth time Lyles has lost a 200 since he started dominating the distance in 2018, shortly after Usain Bolt left the sport. Two of those losses have come at the last two Olympics. Earlier in the week, Lyles won the 100 meters, the distance where he is the reigning Olympic champion.

Kaalund said he came to nationals just "to train myself against the best."

"I wasn't looking for (any) medals, I just wanted to see where I was," he said.

Joining him at the top of the medals stand was Jefferson-Wooden, whose main challenger, Gabby Thomas, has been running well but decided not to run at