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Editor’s note: This review is for the first two episodes. A final review will be published soon.
The review
Two-hundred and 100-metre sprinter Noah Lyles is one of the most likeable personalities in the sport of athletics, certainly of all the sprinters and is charmingly cocky. Sha’Carri Richardson — who knew? — is a wild child, but also affable, and certainly dialled up to 10 on the animation scale. The viewer will find it impossible not to like these two world-class athletes.
Netflix features the two Americans up against an all-star cast of competitors in a series titled Sprint: The World’s Fastest Humans.
Shericka Jackson of Jamaica and Marcell Jacobs of Italy are (sort of) the antagonists in the series which also includes competitors, Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya, Zharnel Hughes of England, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica.
If Netflix was going to time a sprint series better, it would have to be during the Usain Bolt era, otherwise, with Richardson and Lyles, Netflix has the best possible protagonists in place. Bolt of Jamaica transcends eras, so is featured with his analysis of the competitors. So is American Michael Johnson former 200m world record holder. Bolt continues to hold onto the 100m world record of 9.58 seconds, which Lyles wants badly, but he also wants gold at the global championships.
The series is executive produced by Paul Martin, James Gay-Rees, and Warren Smith at Box to Box Films. It is the same team that produced sports docuseries, Full Swing, Drive to Survive, and Break Point. A bevy of sprinters are followed around the professional Wanda Diamond League with the ultimate showdown happening at the 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships. Netflix will release a second season after the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Lyles not only wants gold medals and world records, he wants his sport to be more popular. Athletics is the oldest sport in the world along with Greco-Roman and Olympic Wrestling, but wanes under the massive FIFA, NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB, among others. Lyles was famously derided by NBA players when he called out the league champions for labelling themselves “World Champion.”
“I watch the NBA Finals and they have “world champion” on their head. World champion of what? The United States?” The 26-year-old Gainesville, FLA native said. “Don’t get me wrong. I love the US — at times — but that ain’t the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag.”
A number of NBA players called Lyles out for example, Kevin Durant commented on Instagram: “Somebody help this brother.”
Truth hurts. Lyles was not wrong.
Sha’Carri Richardson
Meanwhile, Richardson wants to win too. The 24-year-old Dallas, TX native tested positive for THC prior to the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games and was suspended just long enough to prevent her from going. It was as if the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said, “We know THC is not really a performance enhancer for sprinting, but the drug is on the banned list, next time don’t get caught. But, USADA lit a fire and she has since performed at a very high level. Last year, she ran 10.65 wind-aided and 10.71 legal. She is ready for the Paris Olympic Games, but for the Netflix series watchers, what happens behind the scenes in Budapest, is expertly meted out by Box to Box Films.
Along the way, and not yet seen in the docuseries, Richardson gaslit her rivals in Jamaica, after finishing last in a race and well over 11 seconds. It was just a bad day. A social media trash talk campaign started. To Richardson’s defence, a fan wrote on Instagram, “Not y’all Jamaicans still talking s*** when y’all gotta walk barefoot to your coconut stand every day for a living.” She liked the post.
The rivalry continues.
