Noah Lyles and his long-time sports psychologist, Diana McNab, have been executing a pre-race routine all season long. Together, they come up with a sort of script, which lays out the psychological game plan on race day—from what Lyles should think when he wakes up, when he arrives at the track, when he’s warming up, when he’s in the blocks, and so on. This mental script is meant to produce strong physical results.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]As per their practice, McNab got on the phone with Lyles the night before his 100-m race in Paris, and rang her Zen chimes three times while Lyles did breathing exercise before visualizing each element of the script.
“Always Zen chimes!” says McNab.
The plan paid off on Sunday night, when Lyles won the most incredible, dramatic, and contested 100-m final in Olympic history. In a photo finish, Lyles edged out Kishane Thompson of Jamaica by five-thousandths of a second on Sunday night at Stade de France.
When Lyles woke up on Sunday, his first step was to “imagine you are 12-15-old Noah – laughing, fun, fearless,” according to the script that McNabb shared with TIME after the race. At the end of his warmup, he was to be as loose as a “Raggedy Ann-Doll.” When he entered the track, he needed to “look around and take in the thousands of spectators and energy in the stadium”—something he could not do in Tokyo, where there were no fans and Lyles went home with a disappointing bronze medal in the 200 m. In the last 20-meters, he was to be “flying down the track. No one can stop me. I am on fire. I have a God-given extra gear.”
And when he crosses the finish line, according to the script, he’ll have a personal-best time, finish in first place, smile, and feel a sense of relief.
Check, check, check, check. The only thing missing, really, was the agonizing wait for Lyles, Thompson, and bronze-medalist Fred Kerley as the judges settled the photo finish. Then he could let out a cackle on the track, take his victory lap, and officially back up the brash words he had been saying all year: the 100 m was now his.
Lyles finished second in his semifinal heat Sunday, to Oblique Seville of Jamaica. Was Lyles not fast enough on this night, or was he just preserving some energy in the tank? “I told him to try to win,” said Lyles’ coach, Lance Brauman. “I thought, to be honest with you, Oblique ran a hell of a race.”
Even Lyles’ mother, Keisha, was a bit anxious in the Stade de France stands. Seville and Thompson, who had already run the fastest time of the year going into the Olympics, were looking formidable. She called up Lyles’ agent and shared her candid observation.
“This final,” said Keisha, “is going to be a b-tch.”
Between the semi and the final, Brauman told Lyles to run more aggressively between 30 and 50 meters. He told him that the next time he saw Lyles, he’d be looking at the 100-m Olympic champion. Brauman told his charge that the showman shows up in the big moment. McNab and Lyles also spoke: she told him to loosen up and stop carrying tension in his body.
During his track introduction for the final, Lyles triple-jumped—plus two or three more hops—about a quarter way down the track. He was the only finalist to do so: his walk-out was not at all subdued. Does Brauman worry that Lyles’ showmanship would sap his energy or risk injury?
“I try not to watch, to be totally honest,” says Brauman. “He does what he does. If I got caught up in that I’d be a nervous wreck all the time.”
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Lyles’ reaction time at the gun—0.178 seconds—was tied for worst in the race. “Dang, I’m amazing,” said Lyles afterward. “That’s crazy. I thought I was a little better than that, but that goes to prove that reaction time does not win races.” While Thompson was three lanes over, Seville was running to Lyles’ left, within his peripheral vision. “I was very fortunate to have Oblique Seville right next to me,” said Lyles. “Because all throughout the year, I feel like he’s been hitting that acceleration that I wasn’t hitting. So I was like, the fact that he’s here means I’m not gonna let him go.” Seville finished in last place.
As Lyles’ top-end speed kicked in, Brauman—who was seated along the backstretch near the finish and didn’t have a good view of the start—started feeling hopeful. “I felt really good when I saw where he was at 60,” said Brauman. “OK, we’re in the mix.” Lyles leaned at the finish, which he wasn’t supposed to do, since that causes the slightest bit of deceleration that can cost a sprinter. “I thought I leaned too early,” said Lyles. But he got away with it. Barely. Like, really, really barely.
As the runners and 80,000 fans at Stade de France stared at the scoreboard, wondering who won, Lyles went up to Thompson. and told him he thought the title was his. “Bro, I think you got that one big dog,” Lyles told him. “And then my name popped up. And I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m amazing.”
NBC put a microphone on Keisha. She screamed so loud, a producer told her she had to turn the volume on her headphones down.
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The times that appeared on the board—9.79 seconds—were the same for Lyles and Thompson. So why wasn’t the race some sort of draw? Turns out, Lyles won his gold medal in 9.784 seconds. Thompson got his silver in 9.789 seconds. American Fred Kerley got bronze in 9.81 seconds.
Lyles has guaranteed a sweep of the 100 m, 200 m, and 4 X 100 relay. Usain Bolt accomplished that feat over three straight Games, in Beijing, London, and Rio. Lyles is promising less drama in the 200 m, where he’s the reigning three-time World Champion, on Thursday night.
“When I come off the turn,” Lyles said on Sunday, his opponents “will be depressed.”
Maybe they should try some Zen chimes.
