Retired Olympic gold medalist sprinter Michael Johnson slams Tyreek Hill

Michael Johnson sticks out as one of the more accomplished sprinters of all time. He is the world record holder in the 200 meters and 400 meters events, and he became the first man ever to win both events in the same Olympics when he accomplished such a feat in 1996.

Johnson spoke to Rich Eisen recently and weighed in on Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s bold assertion that he could beat American track and field star Noah Lyles in a race and indicated that Lyles would come out on top if the two speedsters faced off.

“If it’s a track race — if it’s 100 meters — that’s not a race,” Johnson said. “Tyreek can’t beat the 20th, 30th ranked 100 meter runner in the world no more so than a track athlete who’s fast can’t go over and play receiver and run routes like Tyreek and score touchdowns. It just doesn’t happen.”

Lyles is quite the distinguished Olympic athlete himself. He competed in his first Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 and has won three medals, one gold and two bronze. The 27-year-old won his only gold medal of his career to this point in the 100 meters at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Hill and Lyles first started to exchange trash-talk regarding who would win in a race between the two all the way back in August of 2024.

Hill got wind of Lyles’ comments that Super Bowl champions shouldn’t consider themselves world champions and responded by saying he’d beat the gold medalist in a race. That same month, Lyles threw shade at Hill and acted as if he wasn’t familiar with the wide receiver’s name.

Additionally, the beef between the two was rekindled after Lyles won the 60 meters held at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in February and held up a sign that read “Tyreek could never” following his impressive victory. Lyles also crowned himself the world’s fastest man in an X post celebrating his win, and Hill responded by asking if his Wikipedia page gave him that title.

While a date for a race between Hill and Lyles has yet to be set in stone, Lyles alleged earlier in the month that a distance for the matchup has been agreed to. The race will be 60 meters.

Hopefully, the two elite athletes can come to an agreement on a date for the race in the near future, as folks have long been anticipating a face-off that would help to prove definitely which of the two is faster.