Sunday’s broadcast of the 2025 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on NBC brought some unanticipated controversy when bad blood spilled over at the end of the Men’s 200-meter Final. And this put NBC reporter Lewis Johnson squarely in the middle of an incredibly awkward post-race interview involving Noah Lyles and Kenneth Bednarek, the first and second place finishers.
Lyles and Bednarek are widely regarded to be two of the best American competitors in the 200-meter event. And they have a pretty lengthy history of dueling for that claim. At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Bednarek got the better of Lyles, finishing with a silver medal in the event, while Lyles finished with a bronze medal.
The two ran it back at the 2025 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday. And it was Lyles who got the best of Bednarek this time around, chasing him down at the very end to finish in first place.
As soon as the race was over, Lyles looked over at Bednarek, who didn’t appreciate the gesture and shoved Lyles. The two then had some words for one another as they continued to come to a stop after the race. NBC play-by-play voice Paul Swangard summed up the moment pretty perfectly on the call of the tight finish to the race.
“Lyles slightly ahead and looks over and says, ‘I’m still the world champion’. And a little bit of a push there at the end as the rivalry comes into view,” said Swangard.
The two did eventually shake hands. But that far from buried the hatchet between the two, which Lewis Johnson quickly realized when he went to interview Lyles after the race and the two were still having a pretty heated conversation.
“Alright, so the conversation still going on here,” said Johnson.
“I expect a call,” said Bednarek to Lyles. “I’m saying, if you have a problem, I expect a call. That’s all I’m saying.
“You know what, you are right,” replied Lyles. “You are right, let’s talk after this.”
Johnson then asked Bednarek whether the look over from Lyles was what caused him to shove him. And while Bednarek didn’t exactly answer the question, he made it clear that he and Lyles had more to talk about at a later date.
“I’m not gonna say it out here,” said Bednarek. “But we have something to do and talk about. That’s all I have to say.”
Lyles has always been a rather unique personality in interviews. But it is certainly unforeseen to have an altercation like this after a race spill over to a post-race interview.
Interestingly, the result of Sunday’s race ensures another future battle between Lyles and Bednarek, as the top three finishers in the Men’s Final race automatically qualify for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, which take place in September.
So if cooler heads don’t prevail here between these two behind closed doors, we could very well see Lyles and Bednarek going at each other once again on a national stage.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.