Before Noah Lyles unleashes his outdoor campaign, the 200m World Champion is preparing for a return to the one place his speed has the loudest impact. His 2026 campaign is about to begin with a test that demands absolute precision. The 60m dash. He revealed it all through a social media post a little over two months after his last race of the 2025 season in Tokyo.

We’re talking about the 2026 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, scheduled for January 24. It will be live on NBC from 2 pm to 6 pm EST. The official event page shared a poster featuring Lyles, Jake Wightman, and Elle St. Pierre, all in action. ‘Nojo18’ wasted no time re-sharing the post through his Instagram stories. There was no caption, nor any emojis. It appeared to be simply a subtle declaration that Lyles is aiming to dominate. 

This will mark Lyles’ eighth appearance at the Boston-based meet. He has won the 60m four times in a row. In his last appearance on February 2, 2025, he ran the distance in 6.52s. But he set the meet record in 2024 with a clock-in time of 6.44s. And this time, we can certainly expect him to dominate once again.

But who will he be competing against?

That’s yet to be revealed. But if we take a look at the past New Balance Indoor GP, Lyles might race against familiar faces. We might see Terence Jones, the silver medalist from last year, and Pjai Austin, the bronze medalist. Additionally, Marcell Jacobs might also pose a significant threat to Lyles’ dominance.

The winners at the 2026 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix will receive a whopping $10,000 prize. But that’s not the end of it.

The athletes will compete for something much more valuable: a guaranteed entry into the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland.

What has Noah Lyles planned for the 2026 season?

Despite winning the 60m dash at the 2025 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Lyles wasn’t ready to race at the World Athletics Indoor Championships. And the reason was that the event’s venue was a bit too far from his home in Virginia. 

“World Championships is in September, I think there’s a lot of things that I could fill my schedule up with later, in the middle of the season,” Lyles declared after winning at New Balance 2025. “And by not going to indoor, which is all the way in China, which I’m not trying to take that long of a trip, you know it saves me a lot of time to prepare for that moment.”

But unlike 2025, the 2026 World Indoor Championship might feature Lyles!

Slated to be held from March 20 to 22 in Poland, it’s likely that Noah Lyles will travel nearly 4,000 miles to try and become the 60m world champion. Nevertheless, the hype is real for 2026. 

Noah Lyles has already cemented his status as a strong contender after racing against robots in a recent fun Humans vs Robots series by MrBeast. He defeated them in the back-to-back 50m races. But when he was asked about his 2026 season, he had just one response. 

“Keep your head up and your eyes open,” Lyles told WWD in November. “I think 2026 will be very big.”

With the Boston event acting as Lyles’ launchpad, 2026 may be the year he proves his dominance all over again.