100M SHOWDOWN – SEVILLE VS LYLES - NOVUNA London Diamond League in spotlight early tomorrow

July 18, 2025
Oblique Seville (right) wins last year’s Racers Grand Prix 100 metres in a then world-leading time of 9.82 seconds to beat American Noah Lyles (left), 9.85.  Britain’s Zharnel Hughes (centre) was fourth in 10.09.
Oblique Seville (right) wins last year’s Racers Grand Prix 100 metres in a then world-leading time of 9.82 seconds to beat American Noah Lyles (left), 9.85. Britain’s Zharnel Hughes (centre) was fourth in 10.09.

Olympic Games champion, Noah Lyles of the United States, will face Jamaica's Oblique Seville in a mega clash over 100 metres at tomorrow's NOVUNA London Diamond League -- the 11th stop in the series.

Seville, the world number two male in the event this season following his second-place finish in 9.83 seconds behind Kishane Thompson's world-leading 9.75 at the JAAA National Senior Championships three weeks ago, will be facing Lyles for the third time in the event.

A year ago at the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston, the fast-starting Seville shocked Lyles by winning in 9.82, with Lyles -- despite a strong finish -- having to settle for second in 9.85.

At the Olympic Games in Paris, Lyles relegated the Jamaican to eighth place after winning the event in a personal best 9.79 in a photo finish, where Thompson was credited with the same time for second.

With this being Lyles' debut in the 100m this season, Seville will start as favourite to go all the way. However, Lyles -- the defending champion -- showed a week ago in Monaco that he is not race rusty, winning his opening 200m race of the season in an impressive 19.88. There, he turned back Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who is also the season leader in the event with 19.76.

In that race, Lyles -- known for his usual slow starts and strong finishes -- showed clear improvement on his start, leading Tebogo to the top of the curve. He'll be hoping to reproduce another strong start, as Seville, who is usually quick out of the blocks, could steal a march here.

The likes of South Africa's Akani Simbine (9.90) who was second in the event to Lyles last year, Tebogo, and Great Britain's Zharnel Hughes (9.91) should make this a very interesting affair.

The men's long jump event which starts at 6:53 a.m. should also attract plenty of attention, with three Jamaicans -- Wayne Pinnock, Carey McLeod, and Tajay Gayle -- in action. They'll face off against world leader Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the Olympic champion with a season's best 8.46m, World Indoor bronze medallist Martin Furlani (8.37m), along with Australia's Liam Adcock and Switzerland's Simon Ehammer, who both have bests of 8.34m so far this season.

Gayle, the 2019 World champion, who missed the National Senior Championships due to injury and holds the country's best mark this season at 8.34m, will want to prove his fitness here. McLeod follows closely with 8.33m, and while Pinnock's season's best is 8.10m, the silver medallist king could strike in what is expected to be a very competitive event.

In other individual events involving Jamaicans tomorrow, Andrenette Knight and Janieve Russell will contest the women's 400m hurdles, Natoya Goule-Toppin the women's 800m, Ashanti Moore the women's 200m, Lamara Distin the women's high jump, and Roje Stona the men's discus.

Jamaica will actually be in action on the track very early, as both the women's and men's 4x100m relay teams will compete. Most attention will surround the male quartet of Rohan Watson, Seville, Thompson, and Ackeem Blake or Kadrian Goldson, as they take dead aim at the 38.20 needed for Jamaica to qualify in the event for the Tokyo World Championships. There have been reports that Blake could be out of the event but STAR Sports was unable to get confirmation at press time last night.

The men will be in action at 7:23 a.m., with the women to follow 10 minutes later at 7:33 a.m.

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