No one comes as close to Usain Bolt’s “Berlin” 200m world record as he does: Noah Lyles (25). The US superstar will be celebrating his ISTAF premiere in eleven days – the world champion will be starting in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium for the first time on Sunday, September 4. This is made possible by a training colleague: Gina Lückenkemper.
“Right before the 200 m final at the World Championships in Eugene, we were talking about track and field meets,” Gina Lückenkemper recounts. “Noah said he was really up for an awesome meeting with a really cool atmosphere. So I replied, then you absolutely have to come to the ISTAF in Berlin. And since Noah had always wanted to run in the Olympic Stadium, the matter was quickly settled.”
At the ISTAF, the U.S. superstar will start in the 100 meters and attack his own personal best (9.86 seconds). The two-time 200-meter world champion is the third-fastest athlete of all time in his parade discipline (19.31 seconds). Only Jamaican Yohan Blake (19.26 seconds, Brussels 2011) and Usain Bolt, who stormed to a world record at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium (19.19 seconds), have ever been faster over the 200 meters.
Gina Lückenkemper and Noah Lyles train in Clermont in Florida together with other stars in a training group. “Noah is an exceptional athlete, a born entertainer, very creative and musical, dedicated and just a kind-hearted person,” says Gina Lückenkemper. “Noah sometimes invites the whole group to his house and then DJs. Those are always nice events.”
At the ISTAF on September 4, 2022, numerous European Championship heroes and stars from all over the world will compete compactly on a Sunday afternoon. 15 disciplines are on the program: women: 100 m, 400 m, 5000 m, 100 m hurdles, long jump, discus throw; men: 100 m, 400 m, 1500 m, 110 m hurdles, 400 m hurdles, high jump, pole vault, javelin throw, para-shot put.
In the 100 m, Noah Lyles will meet, among others, the “young guns” of the fast German sprint relay: Kevin Kranz, Joshua Hartmann, Owen Ansah and Lucas Ansah-Peprah.
Tickets and further information are available by phone on the ISTAF ticket hotline 030 30 111 86-30 and online in the ticket store at www.tickets.istaf.de.
Photo: Gladys Chai von der Laage
