The Tyreek Hill-Noah Lyles race will not happen, after all, this year. The Olympic 100-meter champion and three-time 200-meter world champion said the event was slated to take place this coming weekend in Times Square, a setup that would have come not long after a boxing event in the same location. But the race is off, per Lyles, due to unspecified complications and personal reasons. A high school track standout who was a sprinter at Oklahoma State before being kicked off the football and track teams (following a much-discussed domestic violence arrest), Hill made a return to the sport last week. The All-Pro wideout clocked a 10.15-second 100-meter dash at a meet in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Although Hill had run a 60-meter dash since joining the Dolphins, this was his first 100 since becoming an NFLer.
“We were very deep into creating the event,” Lyles said, Instagram link via the New York Post. “Unfortunately, there were some things, complications, personal reasons that it just didn’t come to pass, but we were full on. We were gonna have a big event, we were going to shut down New York Times Square and everything. We were gonna have all the billboards for the event; it was going to be a lot of fun.”
This may end up boosting Hill’s stock as an all-time NFL speedster, as the 27-year-old Lyles would have been a heavy favorite in a race. While Hill’s 10.15-second sprint is certainly impressive at 31, it is tied for 121nd in the world this year. Lyles’ personal-best time is 9.79. Not confused with Usain Bolt in terms of dominance in the 100, the Team USA superstar has 24 sub-10-second 100-meter clockings (including 11 sub-9.9-second performances) in his career.
The Dolphins are likely not too disappointed about this race’s cancellation, as Hill is coming off an injury-plagued 2024. The 10th-year veteran, who had dropped early 15 pounds this offseason, is coming off two offseason wrist surgery and will now focus on a fourth Dolphins training camp. Here is the latest from around the pro football world: