Noah Lyles has announced the cancellation of his highly anticipated race against NFL star Tyreek Hill. The Olympic gold medalist revealed the decision to reporters on Tuesday, explaining that despite extensive planning, personal complications have arisen.
“We were very deep into creating the event,” Lyles remarked. “In fact, it was supposed to happen this weekend. Unfortunately, there were some things, complications, personal reasons that it just didn’t come to pass, but we were full on. We were going to shut down New York’s Times Square and everything; it was going to be a lot of fun.”
In response, Hill took to social media to express his thoughts on the unexpected news. The back-and-forth rivalry between the two athletes began after Lyles claimed gold in the 100m dash at the Paris Olympics, which inspired the Miami Dolphins receiver to challenge him to a 50m race.
Hill, a notable name in high school track with two championships to his credit, recorded a 100m time of 10.15 seconds earlier this month. While impressive, this time still falls short of Lyles’ Olympic achievement of 9.79 seconds.
Although some may find it surprising that an NFL player would think he could outrun an Olympic champion, Lyles confirmed that plans for the race were indeed serious. “A lot of people didn’t believe it to be true. They thought it was just, ‘Oh, this is just them talking online,'” he explained. “The companies didn’t believe it’s real.”