Controversial American athlete Noah Lyles has apologised to Jamaican track and field fans amid mounting backlash for a misinformed take on the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships.

Lyles, as co-host of the ‘Beyond The Records‘ podcast, claimed that the secondary school-level development meet, held annually at the National Stadium in Kingston, only enjoys its attendance levels due to ‘races being free’.

In his 35-second apology video, the reigning 100-metre champion chalked up his inaccuracies as a ‘failure to fact check’ and assured fans he wants nothing more but to “grow” from the experience.

“Hi everyone, I’m Noah Lyles… Today, we released a video talking about Grand Slam [Track] and Boys and Girls Championships in Jamaica. And unfortunately, I did make a comment that provided misinformation. I said that Boys and Girls Championships was free to attend, and thankfully, the community informed me that is not the case,” he said.

“I’m sorry that I spread this misinformation; it was never my job to mislead, and I didn’t fact-check enough. I’m trying to, you know, grow from this moment but thank you everybody for informing me and thanks for watching the video,” added Lyles.

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"I'm sorry I spread this misinformation, it was never my job to mislead." – Noah Lyles pic.twitter.com/24HOUI3DZL

— Beyond The Records Podcast (@podbtr) March 7, 2025

Episode seven of the show, which premiered on March 6, featured 400-metre Olympian Vernon Norwood as the pair and fellow co-host Rai Benjamin dissected the appeal and feasibility of the upcoming Grand Slam Track league.

Proposed by retired Olympic legend Michael Johnson, Grand Slam Track is a professional league for elite athletes “featuring matchups between the fastest stars in the sport”.

The league will host four annual slams between April and June, with eight competitors racing in each of the 12 event groups, according to the Grand Slam Track website.

The trio, in arguing against the league, further claimed that not enough marketing was being done to hype up Grand Slam Track, among several other issues that arose from the podcast.

Attendance, or the complications of attracting track and field fans for multiple days, then segued into a Boys and Girls Champs comparison—as Lyles and Benjamin sought insight from Norwood.

“What’s gonna be the driving factor to get people to show up for three days straight?” Lyles mused during a segment critical of Grand Slam Track.

“I hate to ask this,” retorted Norwood, “so you think it’s gon’ be a process where they’re gonna not do so well with the ticket sales?”

“Like you said, your mom works, right? Who is gonna skip three days of work for a track meet?” Benjamin queried in turn.

“Three days. Friday, Saturday [and] Sunday. Now hang on, are they gonna do that in Jamaica?” Lyles chimed in, and while agreeing with Norwood that Jamaicans love track and field, the defending world champion claimed that it was only because Champs is free.

“Everybody wants to talk about how great Boys and Girls Champs is. Boys and Girls Champs is free. Have you ever seen the crowd at their national [senior trials]? Besides the homestretch, none of [those seats are] full,” Lyles continued.

Jamaicans across social media slammed Lyles for claiming that Champs—organised by the Inter Secondary School Sports Association—attracted no cost to attend and for the ‘greater offence’ of disparaging its status as the most-attended track meets at the junior level anywhere in the world.

Others questioned his ‘obsession’ with Jamaica and why Lyles chose to speak on topics he had limited beforehand knowledge of.

More still counterargued that Lyles ‘gets off’ on intentionally misleading athletics fans since he is currently engaged to Jamaican Junelle Bromfield—a standout star for St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) during her Champs circuit years—and could have benefitted from her input.

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