There were no stare-downs, shoves or heated words after this win for Noah Lyles.

Just four fingers thrust into the air when he crossed the finish line — one for each time he’s won the world title in his favourite race, the 200 meters.

Lyles pulled ahead of his American rival Kenny Bednarek heading into the straightaway Friday night, then held him off down the stretch to win in 19.52 seconds and equal Usain Bolt’s world title haul in the half-lap sprint.

Instead of exchanging glares and shoves with Bednarek — the way it happened last month at U.S. championships — Lyles looked relatively calm, thrusting his fingers into the sky after his .06-second victory and shouting “That’s four, baby!” into the TV camera.

“This,” Lyles said, “is a very big win.”

Minutes after he won, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden completed the first women’s 100-200 double at the worlds since Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 2013, winning in 21.68 seconds. It was a .46-second margin over surprise silver medalist Amy Hunt of Britain. It also made Jefferson-Wooden the first American to complete the double at the world championships.

“I didn’t come into this knowing the history,” she said. “Now, I’m putting two-and-two together and I’m kinda freaking out.”

 

In the men’s race, Bryan Levell of Jamaica finished third and Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo was fourth.

This was among the most-anticipated showdowns of the worlds, one that’s been in the making for the last seven weeks — or four years — depending how you look at it.

In 2021, Lyles was suffering after months in a COVID lockdown and came to Tokyo, admittedly depressed. Lining up in a near-empty stadium, he ran his semifinal poorly, landed Lane 3 for the final, and ended up with a bronze medal that he stored away, using it as fuel for what was to come.

More recently, there was his victory at nationals, punctuated by a stare-down of Bednarek, then Bednarek’s shoving of Lyles as they crossed the finish line.

“It was something where, guys are guys, you put two alpha-males in a room, you’re going to get alpha-male stuff,” said Lyles’ coach, Lance Brauman.

Lyles also dealt with injuries all season, which played a role in his third-place finish in the 100 earlier in the week — a race he came into as defending champion.