US Sprinter Lyles wishes World Athletics waited until next year to make awards changes

In the aftermath of the World Athletics Awards, where the organizers surprised everyone by breaking down the Athlete of the Year award into three categories, US Sprinter Noah Lyles was asked what he thought of the unexpected changes in an interview.

Lyles was one of the award recipients, and at the time of his interview, he had been holding his golden trophy. Aside from this observation, though, it was clear to everybody that Lyles seemed to have been in a disoriented state, unsure of what he felt about the shocking changes in the 35-year-old system.

The sprinter tried his best to deflect the reporters’ attempts to draw out his opinion on the matter, stating that ‘he agreed with the idea’ and that they were all just surprised and wished the organizers had given them a heads-up.

Lyles digesting the events

Further pressing, one reporter finally asked him, “Are you disappointed with that?” Quick to think on his feet, Lyles responded that he hasn’t really ‘digested’ everything that’s happened in the ceremony and that he may need a few weeks to break down his thoughts.

On his X (formerly Twitter) account, Noah Lyles finally delivered on his promise to ‘break down’ his thoughts about the controversial changes.

The world champion stated that when the organizers decided to split the awards without telling them, it made him feel like none of their achievements were good enough to win the ‘Athlete of the Year’ award.

“I’m guessing that was not WA’s goal but that is how it made me feel. I do believe that there should be more awards included in the event but not with exclusion of the AOY award,” Lyles continued.

Three categories

In a press release, the WA stated that they had decided to branch out the awards into three categories as it was too difficult for them to narrow down the vote to one athlete because each of their own skills and disciplines were vastly different from one another.

“I wish they would have waited until next year to change the format of the awards or not change it in the middle of the process.”

Lyles also wished that the governing body had conversations with their athletes first so that they could “come up with a more structured plan.”

I wish they would have waited until next year to change the format of the awards or not change it in the middle of the process. I also wish @WorldAthletics would have had a conversations with the athletes so we could come up with a more structured plan.

— Noah Lyles, OLY (@LylesNoah) December 14, 2023