Noah Lyles looks forward to Birmingham sprint clash

US sprints star Noah Lyles is the latest global champion to sign up to compete in the Müller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on February 19.

The 24-year-old world gold and Olympic 200m bronze medallist, the fastest man in the world over the distance in 2021 [19.52], will take on fellow American Ronnie Baker and British champion Andy Robertson, among others later this month at the Utilita Arena.

Lyles ran a 60m personal best of 6.56 for victory in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Sunday, February 6 and will take on Baker, the 2018 World Indoors bronze medallist in the 60m and Tokyo Olympics 100m finalist.

The Müller Indoor Grand Prix is the fifth meeting of the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Tour [Gold]. There are seven Gold level meetings across the series which started with Karlsruhe on January 28 and which conclude in Madrid on 2 March 2.

A strong British contingent, led by reigning national indoor champion Robertson, will join the US stars in Birmingham.

Robertson, 31, was fourth in the 2021 European Indoor Championships and won the 60m at the BoXX United Manchester World Indoor Tour meeting in his season-opener on January 22 in 6.60, inside British Athletics’ qualification standard for next month’s World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. He backed that up with victory for England in the DNA Indoor Match in Glasgow on Saturday, February 5 in 6.62. His lifetime best, from 2016, is 6.54.

Lyles, who will compete at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix for the first time, said: “I’ve run on the US indoor circuit this year, and this meet will be the final one for me. I have seen a lot of fast times come from the Birmingham track, and I’m looking forward to running there.

“My main focus this year is on defending my titles at the World Athletics Championships this summer and continuing to get better. Every training session and every race is working towards achieving that goal, and this race fits right into that.”

Throughout the World Athletics Indoor Tour series, each athlete’s best three results will count towards their overall point score. The athlete with the most points in each scoring discipline at the end of the tour will be declared the winner and will be awarded a USD$10,000 bonus along with a wild card entry for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade in March 2022.

Source: AW

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