GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles, who initially was on the performance list and then removed, has returned for the men’s 300-meter at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational scheduled for Friday, according to the latest start list released by meet organizers at the University of Florida on Thursday.
The eight-time world champion is slated to open his 2026 season in Gainesville alongside 2024 NCAA 200m champion Cheickna Traore of Cote d’Ivoire. The start list had seen him being scratched, but his name had reappeared on the entry list for the event when it was last updated.
The American will race from the first heat of the sprint event, where he will take on Traore, who owns a personal best of 32.12 seconds for the 300m. Alexavier Monfries of South Florida, with a PB of 33.99, and his teammate Shomari Pettigrew (34.60) are also in the same section as Lyles.
Lyles has not raced since the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, where he collected three medals at those championships. The 28-year-old U.S. sprinter earned bronze in the 100m, successfully defended his 200m world title, and anchored the American team to gold in the 4x100m relay to close out his campaign.
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The 300m distance represents an uncommon event for Lyles during his professional career. He set his personal best of 31.87 seconds in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2017, a mark that stood as the world indoor best until Tokyo 2020 400m champion Steven Gardiner ran 31.56 in 2022.
Since then, he’s yet to feature in the discipline and has not competed in the event outdoors.
After the Jimmy Carnes Invitational, Noah Lyles will continue his preparations for his indoor season. The nine-time American national champion is also scheduled to compete in the 60m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on Jan. 24.
The reigning Olympic 100m champion has won the Boston indoor meet four consecutive times, including a 60m victory to begin his 2025 campaign that concluded with his fourth straight world title at 200m in Tokyo.
