Noah Lyles Eyes 2026 and LA 2028 Olympics

American sprint star Noah Lyles is already setting his sights beyond the current season as he prepares for a major build-up toward the 2026 track campaign and ultimately the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The reigning Olympic 100m gold medallist and multiple world champion acknowledges that fierce competition from Jamaican rivals Oblique Seville and Kishane Thompson is shaping his mindset and fueling his ambition for what lies ahead.

At the heart of Lyles’s motivation is the high-level rivalry he shares with Seville and Thompson. Both Jamaicans have pushed him hard on the track in recent seasons, with Seville beating him several times during the Diamond League circuit and at major global championships. These head-to-head battles have become a springboard for Lyles’s own development, forcing him to refine his training goals and rethink how he approaches both major competitions and season planning.

Lyles says that his focus as he transitions into 2026 is built around an “all-or-nothing” mentality. Rather than holding back or easing into each season, he wants to attack every phase of preparation and competition with maximum intensity, treating each training cycle and race as a step toward his ultimate goal: peak performance on home soil at the LA28 Games.

This renewed attitude comes after a mixed 2025 season in which Lyles finished behind Seville and Thompson in the men’s 100m final at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships, with him taking bronze while the Jamaicans finished first and second, respectively. The result underscored the depth of competition and gave Lyles a clear target for improvement.

Seville’s rise, in particular, has been remarkable. The Jamaican sprinter captured the 100m world title in Tokyo with a personal-best performance, becoming the first Jamaican man in over a decade to win the world crown in the blue-riband event. His success has highlighted the evolving landscape of elite sprinting, where competition no longer revolves around a single dominant figure but several athletes capable of winning on any given day.

Meanwhile, Thompson, the 2024 Olympic silver medallist,  has consistently delivered fast times and podium finishes throughout his career, proving himself as one of the fastest sprinters on the circuit. His performances have kept the pressure on both Seville and Lyles, contributing to what many in the sport consider one of the most exciting rivalries in recent sprint history.

Rather than viewing these competitors as obstacles, Lyles frames their presence as inspiration that helps elevate his own output. He has publicly dismissed the idea that racing against Seville and Thompson is “difficult,” instead describing it as the kind of competition that brings out the best in elite athletes. This perspective reflects a broader philosophy: that adversity and strong rivals are catalysts for growth rather than barriers to success.

Looking ahead, Lyles plans to leverage what he learned from the 2024 and 2025 seasons, including how he structures his training, mixes 100m and 200m races, and prepares mentally for big-stage competition. While he hasn’t finalized every detail of his 2026 campaign, his ambition is clear: build a season that not only produces fast times but also positions him perfectly for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.