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Lyles edges Tebogo in Zurich thriller in perfect Tokyo boost / Photo: © AFP
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Lyles edges Tebogo in Zurich thriller in perfect Tokyo boost
US sprinter Noah Lyles held his nerve to edge Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo over 200m at the Diamond League finals in Zurich on Thursday in what was the perfect boost before the world championships in Tokyo in two weeks.
"Six in a row, the most in track!" Lyles beamed after receiving his sixth Diamond League trophy.
"It is pretty nice to have that. Making another race is great. I saw Letsile lean on the finish line and I leaned on the finish line but I knew I won. I can always ask for more."
Lyles added: "My plan now is to go to Amsterdam where I am based in Europe and from there go to Japan."
Lyles' final preparation for the worlds could not have been better.
The 28-year-old American was drawn in lane six, with Tebogo a perfect tracking target outside him in seven.
The Botswanan won the 200m at last year's Paris Olympics, when the Covid-hit Lyles having to be content with bronze after first claiming 100m gold, and on Thursday shot out of the blocks at a packed Letzigrund Stadium.
Tebogo seemed to be heading for victory as he hit the home straight well ahead.
But Lyles is known for his "top end" speed, something Tebogo had picked out as one of the American's stand-out traits.
And it did not let Lyles down in a raucous atmosphere in Zurich, scorching through the line in 19.74 seconds for a sixth Diamond league trophy.
Tebogo was two-hundredths of a second behind.
"This is not my true potential right now. I feel there is still a lot more in the tank that people need to see," rued Tebogo.
"I take this as a big motivation for my training and from tomorrow, until the last day of the 200m final, I have to give it all my best. I have to give all out.
"I have been preparing for this race for so long only to lose it at the last finish."
Tebogo said he now had to let his "legs do the talking because the more you are talk and you cannot prove it, it means you only talk, you do not prove yourself".
The Botswanan added that he believed Lyles, who brands himself as the showman of the track, had become "humble" since the Paris Olympics.
"Since Paris, he has been humble, he has not been talking so much," Tebogo said.
"Now, he is just more calm. We are equally balanced at the moment. For sure, I am going to double in Tokyo. I just want to let it all out."
They were the only two sprinters to dip under the 20sec mark, Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic taking third in 20.14sec.
F.Jablonski--GL
