Olympic 100-meter champion Noah Lyles has canceled a race with Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, which was rumored to take place this weekend, citing "personal reasons."
The announcement came during Lyles' appearance at Stagwell's Sport Beach event in Cannes, France, where he shared the news in a video that surfaced on social media.
This cancellation follows an extended period of playful banter between the two athletes. Lyles had previously indicated that the race was set to occur in Times Square, generating excitement among fans.
"Unfortunately, there were some things — complications, personal reasons, that it just didn't come to pass, but we were full in," Lyles stated in the video. "We were going to have a big event."
In a lighthearted jab, Hill took to social media, sharing images of Lyles' face superimposed on Homer Simpson's character retreating into the bushes. He captioned it: "@LylesNoah after seeing me run the 100m last weekend." Hill clocked a time of 10.15 seconds in a race last Friday in California, holding up a sign that read "Noah Could Never."
This playful rivalry escalated after Lyles displayed a sign saying "Tyreek Could Never" following his victory in a 60-meter indoor race back in February.
Lyles secured Olympic gold in the 100-meter event last summer in Paris, finishing with a time of 9.784 seconds, narrowly edging out Jamaica's Kishane Thompson by five-thousandths of a second.
As Lyles elaborated, the race for bragging rights was never officially confirmed but was poised to happen this weekend.
"It was going to be a lot of fun," he remarked in the video.
