Lyles and Blake blot out Bolt from mind in quest for glory

Let’s not talk about Usain Bolt Period. He is a legend, no doubt, one who should be cherished, idolised and celebrated as the greatest sprinter that ever was.
But let’s live in the present, at least for now.
So, yesterday, when Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake was asked by a kid during a meet-and-greet session at a mall as to how he would describe his former teammate in three words, the question elicited almost a shrug and a smirk from fellow sprinter, Noah Lyles.
It almost said, ‘here we go again’.
While Blake has run the fifth fastest time (9.69s) of all time  in the 100m (three of those have been run by Bolt and one by American Tyson Gay) and the second fastest in the 200m (19.26s), Lyles, who is only running the 200m in Doha, has done three sub-10 seconds times thrice in the 100m in this year alone.
“I think everybody gets tired of being compared to someone else at some point. If you had a brother, and your teacher compared you to him every now and then, you would get tired of that too,” Lyles told Gulf Times.
Lyles’ persona off the field, whether it is his walk on the ramp or his funny antics, has put him under the spotlight that had for long stayed on Bolt.
“To be honest, you can’t be thinking about what they are thinking about. You can only know that you are excited to do things. And if they like it, great. If they don’t, that’s how life is. If you like what I am doing, I appreciate it. But I am going to do what I want to do my way,” Lyles said.
Blake has graver reasons. “I don’t want to talk about him. I have lost friendship with him over the past couple of days. Because there was some argument with him,” Blake said, perhaps referring to the Bolt’s vociferous defence of his coach, Glen Mills, even as the former and other compatriots moved coaches.
“I know I don’t want to talk about it until after the World Championships,” he said.
That’s that then.
Both Blake and Lyles began with different sports and disciplines back in school. While Blake was into cricket and was a fast bowler in school, Lyles began his tryst with track and field with the high jump.
“I run up to bowl, I run to run. But transferring to track and field was better because it is me alone. I choose myself, no one to choose me, so it was much easier for me,” Blake said.
Lyles, meanwhile, still follows the high jump for the competition it throws up. “I am pretty excited to see how this one goes, especially with Mutaz Barshim,” referring to the Qatari star and defending world champion.
“I think it will be very interesting to see how he does coming back from his injury. I feel if he had had two more months, I definitely will be like he for sure is going to win. I am still rooting for him as winning, though.”
Conversations around athletics are often dominated by numbers and records, and yet, these two sprinters, even a day before the IAAF World Championships kicks off, refused to get drawn into that.
“The focus is the plan,” 22-year-old Lyles said. “The better I execute the plan I have set out for the race, the better the time will be, the better I will perform, and I will be more consistent. The more consistent I am at producing that plan, the faster I can get.”
For 29-year-old Blake, it is about “execution and technique”. “Once I am focused on that, then anything is possible. I am not really focused on time.”
Blake and Lyles will face off against each other for the 200m.
And both have given out only one hint — confidence. “The plan is to win, grab a gold medal. And after that we can worry about the rest,” said Lyles, who has run the fastest 2019 time in 200m at 19.50. Blake, on the other hand, is calm in the knowledge that “what I have done, they have not done it as yet”, referring to touching his personal bests in both 100m (9.69s) and 200m (19.26s).
“I am looking forward to go out there and have fun. I am confident. I know that I can do.”
While the action in 100m begins today with the preliminary rounds, the 200m begins with the heats on Sunday.
For those still curious about how Blake described Bolt in three words: “courageous, talented, childish”.