Noah Lyles’ weapon is not just his athletic build, which makes him always a few microseconds faster than his opponents. “If you turn your mind off and let your body just run, you see amazing things happen,” the Olympic champion said in a Washington Post interview just before the 2024 Paris Olympics. In fact, the psychological element has always been the hallmark of his iconic track journey.

And even though he doesn’t let the outside noise disturb him, he definitely doesn’t hesitate to weaponize the same against his opponents. In short, Noah Lyles is the mastermind of bringing mind games to the track. He has done it before; he will do it again. But was he up to his usual antics at the 2025 World Athletics Championships? Well, not quite as the sprinter himself clarified. But he did reveal when his opponents should actually worry.

The USA sprinter absolutely blazed through his 200m sprint at the Tokyo World Championships on September 19, running a 19.52. He didn’t give the field an iota of a chance of coming close to him; that’s how good he was. But there were no mind games involved, despite what the reporter thought, as Lyles plainly stated in the post-race interview shared by The Inside Line on YouTube on September 21.

The 28-year-old sprinter sported bleached blonde curls for the 2025 Championships, really making him stand out quite effortlessly. When asked if going for blonde hair was a psychological move, like an unspoken message sent to his opponents, Noah Lyles was rather surprised by the suggestion. “This is so crazy … This is not the mind games. I promise you, you will know when I play mind games. It’ll be a lot stronger of a flash.”

In fact, the sprinter clarified it was all related to his upcoming nuptials, as he planned to cut his hair for the wedding ceremony. “So, I’m planning to cut my hair for the wedding. So the blonde is my ‘au revoir’ to the long hair for now.” The golden curls were a last hurrah before reverting to the short hair his fiancee, Junelle Bromfield, likes, as well as a nod to Super Saiyan Goku. The 3-time Olympic medalist is a huge Dragon Ball Z fan, but most of his fans already know that. No, his blonde hair had nothing to do with his rivals, and he isn’t playing mind games. Yet.

Yep, the last word quickly got the reporter’s attention as she asked for a previous instance when he did employ the ‘dark arts’. Noah Lyles came clean with his reply. “I ain’t gonna lie. That stare to Kenny (Bednarek) at Eugene was definitely a mind game.” It happened at the 2025 USA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on August 3, 2025. Lyles coldly stared down compatriot Kenny Bednarek at the finish line of the 200m sprint as the former narrowly edged past for the win.

It was a statement Lyles wanted to send out, to Bednarek and to anybody trying to dethrone him. As for mind games, Lyles revealed, “Anytime that I go up to a crowd and I get them chanting and I haven’t even raced yet, that’s a mind game.” Oh, something like what we saw before the Paris Olympics 200m sprint? “If I already have the crowd in my hand, they’re (opponents) probably thinking, ‘What the heck am I doing here?’”

Well, mind games are not foolproof, although when you are Noah Lyles, more often than not, you don’t need them. Without that only, he has been having an amazing season already.

Lyles’ amazing season continued at the 2025 World Athletics Championships

The 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships ended with Noah Lyles bagging 3 medals. That included the bronze in the 100m sprint, where the Jamaicans made a triumphant return to the podium, that too in front of their legendary countryman, Usain Bolt.

Maybe that was like a wake up call Noah Lyles needed. Since then, the American had been unrelenting, and he just kept running faster than whatever his opponents could throw at him. And he walked away with gold in both the 200m sprint and the 4×100m relay. The 200m win will be especially memorable, as he matched Bolt’s record of four World Championship golds in the 200m event.

It was a special run indeed. To put it in perspective, his rival, Letsile Tebogo, ran a hard 19.65 and finished a distant fourth. Yep, 0.13 seconds separated 4 sprinters, that’s how close it was. That’s how fast Noah Lyles needed to be. But this is what he lives for, taking the gold in the most difficult and tightest of races.

He has only added to his Diamond League Final win this season at Zurich. In the 200m sprint on August 27, he ran a 19.74 to beat Tebogo by 0.02 seconds. Noah Lyles has been challenged and pushed throughout this season. But he has come out smiling and vanquishing his enemies.