Noah Lyles: Olympic champion nominated for prestigious American award for the second consecutive year

Noah Lyles has made the nominee list for the USATF Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year award and has a great chance of making it back-to-back wins.

Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles for the second consecutive year has been nominated for the prestigious USATF Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year award.

The award which is the highest honour given to the best American track and field male athlete in a season, has six exceptional stars nominated this year.

Noah Lyles dominated the 100m event at the Paris Olympics

For Lyles, he had a brilliant year that saw him win the US sprint titles at the Olympic trials to book his spot in Paris, where against all odds he became the Olympic 100m champion by defeating his fierce Jamaican rival Kishane Thompson in a new personal best time of 9.79s.

His victory saw him become USA's first Olympic champion in the event since Justin Gatlin attained the feat at Athens 2004 Games. In addition to his gold medal-winning performance, Lyles claimed the 200m bronze medal behind Letsile Tebogo and Kenny Bednarek despite running ill with COVID-19, which was revealed after the race by the USATF.

The sprint star is a top favourite for the prestigious recognition. His impressive performances this season on the track and famous personality off-track make him highly likely to win the award for the second consecutive year.

However, he has strong contenders on the list worthy of copping the award. They are Olympic champions and individually had an outstanding 2024 season.

Here's the list of nominated athletes for the USATF Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year.

Rai Benjamin won the Olympic 400mH and 4x400m titles in Paris

• Ryan Crouser - Olympic Shot Put Champion and World Record holder
• Rai Benjamin - Olympic 400mH and 4x400m Champion
• Quincy Hall - Olympic 400m Champion
• Cole Hocker - Olympic 1500m Champion
• Grant Holloway - Olympic 110mH Champion and 60mH World Record holder