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Noah Lyles

The defending world champion, Noah Lyles, sprinted for the win in the men’s 100 metres at the USATF Bermuda Grand Prix on Sunday. He clocked a three-metre-per-second wind-aided time of 9.96 seconds — it’s early.

Finishing second was Canada’s Aaron Brown, who ran to a 10.09s result, while fellow American Pjai Austin finished third in 10.10s. The 23-year-old Austin has run as fast as 9.88s wind-aided and 9.89s legal.

The win is Lyles’ second race of the season. He raced at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, where he finished in 10.01s. Lyles, who holds world titles in the 100m and 200m events, is rounding into form nicely in this Olympic year.

He said, “I am excited to finally be getting there, but there is definitely a lot to clean up.”

Sha’Carri Richardson

Sha’Carri Richardson took in the Suzhou Wanda Diamond League meet on the weekend and finished in third position. While, it is a good sign that Lyles is “rounding into form,” at this time, a perspective could also be taken that it may be early to be at one’s best in April.

Winning was Great Britain’s Daryll Neita in the time of 22.62s. Taking second was Anavia Battle from the US with her 22.99s performance. Richardson recorded a 23.11 performance — well off the mark. Last August, the 24-year-old had run as fast as 21.92 at the Budapest World Athletics Championships — when it counted most. She won a bronze medal in that race.

The week prior, she finished second at the Xiamen Wanda Diamond League in Egret Stadium in 22.99s with a -0.4 wind reading — it’s early.

Nineteen-year-old Australian sensation Torrie Lewis won in 22.96s. Lewis is originally from Scotland with a Jamaican, Indian and Scottish heritage. The Aussie is truly an international athlete, on and off the track. There is more to come from her.

Christian Coleman

Africa may be coming for the Americans with Nigeria on the rise and even a Kenyan sprinter making headlines in Ferdinand Omanyala. They are not just ectomorphs anymore; East African mesomorphs for the win. Shades of Julius Yego, the great javelin specialist.

Now it appears South Africa’s Akani Simbine is making his mark again. Sunday, he clocked a 10.01s 100m sprint to defeat American Christian Coleman who managed just a 10.04s performance. Fellow American Fred Kerley ran a pedestrian 10.11s. The 30-year-old Simnine has sprinted as fast as 9.84s back in 2021. The performance is the RSA national record. It was the African record until Omanyala bettered it with his 9.77s 2021 performance in Nairobi.

In Miramar, FL, Coleman was bettered in the 200m event on April 6. It has been a long time, but he has run as fast as 19.85s back in 2017. Did Coleman peak for the 2024 Glasgow World Indoor Championships when he won the 60m event in 6.41s? His best over the distance is the world record from 2018 at 6.34s, but again, that was six years ago.

Audrey Leduc

Why is there not more noise being made by Canadians about the national-record-breaking performance from Audrey Leduc with her 10.96s run in Baton Rouge, FL on April 20?

The performance broke one of the oldest Canadian records on the books. Angela Bailey, in 1987, clocked a 10.98s performance in Budapest to set the national record 37 years prior.

During the race, Leduc appeared to have a slow start but gained momentum and seemed to propel herself forward with incredible power for the win. The win was impressive and outshined all of her other results from 60m to 200m by far. In fact, her best 60m is 7.21s or 1147 World Athletics Points. The 10.96s race is valued at 1209 points. All of her other personal bests are below the 1100-point benchmark. It is an outlier to be sure and perhaps an indication of medal potential in Paris this summer.

The Gatineau, QC native who competed for Laval Rouge et Or opened the 2024 season with an 11.08s performance, eclipsing her previous best by 0.30s seconds and breaking the 36-year-old Quebec record of 11.13s, so the 10.96 was not a total shock, however, her 11.08 was impressive in itself.

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