Noah Lyles opened the 100m at the Toyota USA Track and Field Outdoor and Para National Championships with a 9.97-second heat win Thursday, moving straight into Friday night’s semifinals at Icahn Stadium in New York City. He said afterward that the run felt like a good warm-up and that he could use about three more of them to get the engine firing.
That matters because Lyles is not just another qualifier in the field. He is the 2024 Olympic 100m gold medalist, and the meet is back at Icahn Stadium for the first time since 1991, with the men’s and women’s 100m semifinals and final all stacked into Friday night. Sha’Carri Richardson also advanced, clocking 10.90 seconds in the women’s first round, and Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek both moved on after winning their heats in 9.96 and 10.04 seconds.
The men’s 100m still has a catch. Lyles and Bednarek are the names people will circle for a final, but both still have to clear the semifinals before that matchup exists. That is the part that gives Friday its edge: the meet can be set up for a showdown and still deny it in one round.
For Lyles, the opening heat was measured rather than flashy, which is exactly what a champion with bigger rounds ahead can afford. He skipped the 100m at the 2025 U.S. Championships, and his presence here gives the race its center of gravity again. The last six nationals have produced a different men’s 100m winner each time, a streak that makes any repeat bid feel less like a formality than a test.
Richardson brings her own stakes into Friday. She is described as one of the last two U.S. 100m champions and can become the second woman to win three U.S. 100m titles since 2000 after Carmelita Jeter. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden is racing strictly the 200m this weekend, which leaves Richardson’s path in the sprint’s marquee event clearer but not simple.
Lyles already has recent proof of how close the rivalry can be. In 2025, he overtook Bednarek in the U.S. 200m final by four hundredths, and he has also beaten him in their last seven head-to-heads in 100m finals, according to Tilastopaja.info. That record is why Friday night feels loaded before the gun even goes off. First comes the semifinal. Then the final. Only after both does the matchup people are waiting for become real.
