Jamaican Sprinter Seville Scores Second Victory Over Lyles This Season
Oblique Seville brushed aside both the heavy rain and a slight headwind to secure victory at the Athletissima Lausanne meet on Wednesday, 20 August, the 13th stop of this year’s Diamond League.
In front of a soaked crowd, the Jamaican sprinter left Olympic champion Noah Lyles trailing, marking his second win over the American in 2025.
Launching out of the blocks with intent, Seville surged clear in the wet conditions and dominated the race from start to finish, clocking 9.87 seconds despite facing a -0.3m/s headwind.
Speaking after his performance, Seville told Olympics.com’s Evelyn Watta, “Yeah, I’m back, but to be honest in these conditions, it’s very difficult even to run that fast, and to come out here and I’m the only person who managed to show my dominance.”
A sluggish start again cost Lyles, who managed to claw back to second place in 10.02, nudging ahead of Seville’s compatriot Ackeem Blake, who shared the same time in a photo-finish.
That result made it the third straight defeat this season for the Olympic gold medallist, who had previously fallen to Seville in London and Kishane Thompson in Silesia.
The commanding margin underlined the scale of Seville’s run, while Lyles’s own season continues to build slowly after early injury setbacks.
“I love to run and compete, so this is a very odd type of season for me. I’ve never had a season like this before, where I’ve had so few races,” Lyles had admitted during Tuesday’s media session ahead of the race.
Budapest 2023 had crowned him world champion, but with Tokyo 2025 looming, the American is still searching for consistency.
Reflecting on his 10.02 performance, Lyles told Olympics.com, “I just had a really bad reaction to the gun. After that, there’s not much I can do. We all got to run in the same thing; just because it’s bad conditions doesn’t mean fast times can’t be run.”
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