Hill Beating Lyles? Not So Fast, Says Another Olympic Champion

Four-time gold medal winner Michael Johnson dismissed the idea of Tyreek Hill being able to defeat Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles in a race

Tyreek Hill of Coffee County High (center) wins the 200m in 20.57 in the 2012 USA Junior Championships at the Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Complex at the University of Indiana. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

There’s no better offseason talking point than bold hypotheticals.

Michael Johnson, a four-time Olympic gold medal sprinter, appeared on the Rich Eisen Show this week and was asked about Tyreek Hill’s claim that he could beat six-time World champion sprinter Noah Lyles in a race. Not only did Johnson side with the 2024 Olympic gold medalist, but he also doubted that the five-time first-team All-Pro would stand much of a chance.

“If it’s a track race—100 meters—that’s not a race,” Johnson said. “Tyreek can’t beat the 20th-, 30th-ranked 100-meter runner in the world. A track athlete can’t go over and play receiver and run routes like Tyreek and score touchdowns — it just doesn’t happen.”

While Lyles originally wanted Hill to race him in the 100-meter, Hill initially pushed for a 50-yard race . On March 9,  Lyles said the two fast guys agreed to a 60-meter race.

What remains undetermined — if the race is to ever go off — is a date.  

“Yeah, I noticed that we did a lot of articles and they never told the distance,” Lyles said in an interview with @realtalkwithtee on X. “It will be 60 meters.”

For reference, 60 meters is approximately 65.5 yards. Lyles clocked a 6.43 second 60-meter dash at the Glasgow Indoor Championship. Hill, who ran track in high school and college, ran a 6.70 over 60 meters at the 2023 USATF Masters Indoor Championships. 

“Let’s go back to [Mike] Tyson and [Jake] Paul,” Johnson said. “They tried to make that some sort of compelling competition — they tried and failed. I think people are beyond that. I think that nobody is going to believe it anymore. The closer we got to [the fight], there was a lot of marketing about a certain type of glove… Next thing you know, I’m buying into it. 

“As soon as it started — no, this is ridiculous.”

Could Hill upset one of the world’s fastest athletes? Offseason hypotheticals help fill the time before football returns, but this race seems unlikely to happen anytime soon, considering contractual obligations and injury risk, particularly with Hill recovering from offseason wrist surgery.

“[Lyles] is the fastest man in the world,” Johnson said. "Tyreek is not one of the fastest people in the world. He’s one of the fastest football players — but he’s not one of the fastest people. Don’t buy the hype.”

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