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Diamond League: Noah Lyles vs Letsile Tebogo showdown in store
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Reading Time: 3min | Thu. 10.07.25. | 10:00
The American has not lost a 200m race in the Diamond League since 2019, but with a surging Tebogo in the mix, the streak is under real threat
After nearly a year away from the track, Paris Olympics 100m champion Noah Lyles is set to make a highly anticipated return at the Monaco Diamond League meeting on Friday, 11 July.
The three-time world champion in the 200m has not raced in his signature event since 2023 and has been sidelined since April with what was described as a “tight ankle.”
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His absence from both the 100m and 200m events for nearly 11 months had fans worried, but the sprint icon is finally back. The injury marked his first reported setback in six years, but all signs now point to a full recovery and renewed determination.
On Monday, 7 July, Lyles dropped a black-and-white rehab video on Instagram with a cryptic Bible verse from Matthew 4:1: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”
That message, paired with the announcement of his return, confirmed he will line up in Monaco for his first 200m race of the 2025 season.
Lyles last competed on Monday, 19 April, clocking 45.87 over 400m at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational, but later pulled out of the Adidas Atlanta City Games in May, where he was scheduled to race alongside Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala.
Omanyala went on to clock a sensational 14.70 seconds to win the 150m event. The victory saw the Kenyan sprint sensation shatter both the African and national records.
Still, the road back will not be easy. Standing in his way is Paris Olympics 200m champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who is in red-hot form.
The reigning Olympic champion and world 100m silver medallist is coming off a brilliant win at the 2025 Prefontaine Classic, where he ran 19.76 seconds (+0.7) to take victory emphatically.
Tebogo had been dealing with a hamstring injury earlier in the season, which forced him out of the Diamond League meet in Rabat, but he has since bounced back in spectacular style.
“I'm looking at how many weeks I've missed from training. Putting out this kind of performance shows that people should not worry because I lost so many weeks of training to get into recovery and get back into training again,” Tebogo said in an interview with Citius Mag.
For Lyles, the Monaco meet kicks off a packed schedule, with the London Diamond League on Saturday, 19 July, where he is expected to race the 100m, followed by the USATF Championships from Thursday, 31 July to Sunday, 3 August.
Lyles has not lost a 200m race in the Diamond League since 2019, but with a surging Tebogo in the mix, the streak is under real threat.
