<\/p>\n
S<\/span>print king Noah Lyles sits smiling and calm after the storm that returned him to the throne in Tokyo, reflective even. He has expressed a desire, having now won four successive 200m world titles, to surpass Usain Bolt\u2019s record with a fifth at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing in 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the American\u2019s mind has wandered even further. \u201cI have a strong blueprint of what I want my last year in the sport to look like,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve looked pretty far into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Lyles rules out a tilt for the 2032 Games in Brisbane, when he will be 35, making Los Angeles in 2028 his Olympic swansong. The plan is for a final year \u201csomewhere in between 2028 and 2032\u201d, racing at three meets in countries he\u2019s never been to, \u201cso that I can touch a lot of bucket list things\u201d.<\/p>\n There will also be a few competitions \u201cclose to home\u201d and then one final flourish. \u201cThe last race would be at my own track meet, where I\u2019d be able to do any and everything that I want.\u201d<\/p>\n He laughs at this thought, a glimpse at the glee Lyles exudes when he is in world-beating form. It\u2019s a contrast from his presence in Japan for the Olympics four years ago, when he was managing depression and finished third in the 200m behind winner Canadian Andre De Grasse.<\/p>\n In a celebratory mood in downtown Tokyo, Lyles takes a question about his advancing years in good humour. \u201cUh oh, I\u2019m getting up there aren\u2019t I,\u201d the 28-year-old says, chuckling again. \u201cLast year in Paris was the halfway mark for me, literally turning 26 to 27 in Paris, I was like, \u2018OK, I\u2019m on the other half of the hill\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n He says he thinks about his age regularly, in order to make the most of his time in the sport. \u201cIf I really push everything I want out of every year and month and week and day that I have, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever regret any of the years.\u201d<\/p>\n