Noah Lyles to open 200m season against Letsile Tebogo in Monaco

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Letsile Tebogo after crossing the line to win gold ahead of silver medallist Kenneth Bednarek and bronze medallist Noah Lyles at the Paris Olympics.

PHOTO: REUTERS

MONACO – Noah Lyles makes his much-anticipated return to elite competition when he competes in the 200m at the Diamond League meet in Monaco on Friday.

As athletes continue to fine-tune their form ahead of September’s World Championships in Tokyo, the American will line up against Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo.

Here are four stand-out disciplines at the 10th meeting of the 15-event Diamond League at the Stade Louis II.

Olympic 100m champion Lyles makes his return to action in the 200m on a track where his one previous appearance, in 2020, saw him clock a sensational 19.46 seconds.

The 27-year-old ran a 400m in Atlanta in April, but is yet to compete over the 100 or 200m this season.

Lyles’ season and European debut in the half-lap race will see him line up against Botswana’s Olympic 200m champion Tebogo.

It will be the duo’s first race since that final in Paris last summer when a Covid-struck Lyles claimed bronze.

Tebogo heads to Monaco as the sprinter to beat. He set the fastest time of the season over 200m in Eugene on Saturday, in 19.76sec, having recovered from a poor start to the season.

“For me, this is the tip of an iceberg,” said Tebogo. “The 19.7 is a shock to me because we just recovered from an injury which took a lot of weeks of training, so I’m