NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) - Noah Lyles gave fans a fright at the U.S. national championships on Sunday when he pulled up suffering from leg cramps down the final straight of the 200 metres final but the American later played down the issue.
All appeared to be business as usual for world champion Lyles around the turn until he stopped short and grabbed his leg, drawing audible gasps from the crowd at Icahn Stadium.
But he was all smiles as he walked up to reporters after finishing last in 50.88 seconds, explaining that his left hamstring had begun to cramp. Garrett Kaalund won in 20.04.
"I'm like, 'Yeah, there's no reason to keep pushing that'. So I just decided to cut it off. To be honest, it's just a cramp. Just got some electrolytes here, just gonna chug them down," said Lyles.
The 100m Olympic champion clocked an eye-watering world lead to win the shorter sprint on Friday in 9.79 seconds, after a wind-aided 9.76 in the semi-final, and said he suspected the workload finally caught up with him.
"Running two nine-sevens in one day is kind of crazy. And I think I underestimated how fast that really was and trying to come back," he told reporters.
"This does show me what it takes to keep going, which, you know, kind of puts a perspective on how kind of great (retired sprinter Usain) Bolt was."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
