A global stage called for Noah Lyles, far removed from the starting blocks and the heat of competition.

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a perk of his celebrity was ready to stroke his ego.

The 2025 Esports World Cup, held in July and August, is the pinnacle of gamer culture, a six-week celebration and competition featuring $70 million worth of prizes for tournaments in more than 20 video games.

It’s Coachella, Disneyworld and the World Series of Poker all rolled into one event. And Lyles belongs.

He’s the kind of star whose NIL goes on the promo, who is flown out and paid to show up.

“I woulda came for free,” Lyles said.

But Lyles didn’t go.

No photo ops with event ambassador Cristiano Ronaldo, the global soccer star, or backstage passes at the highly anticipated Metro Boomin concert.

No front-row seat to the riveting League of Legends championships.

Lyles had more pressing encounters coming. Especially Oblique Seville.

He’s been hunting Lyles for a couple of years now.

The 24-year-old Jamaican prodigy, anointed with the task of bringing sprint glory back to his nation, began posing a threat in the heats of the 2023 World Athletics Championships, posting a time of 9.86 seconds that year.

But he couldn’t touch Lyles in the final, as Lyles announced himself as a force in the 100-meter by winning his first major title in the event.

A year later, Seville famously taunted Lyles at the 2024 Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica, shooting a look at Lyles while beating him.

Lyles vowed revenge and got it in Paris, in the most epic fashion, while Seville was left with the sting of a last-place finish in the 2024 Olympic final.

Lyles always had an extra edge about him. A depth to his competitiveness that pushed him over the top. Seville embodies why he can’t lose that edge.

Because while the perks of his elevated status are enticing, maintaining his dominance is as difficult as establishing it.

The loudness of his ascension makes him a bright target for his successors.

Lyles had to learn the critical power of the word “no.”

“And that’s kind of hard when you’ve been told no so many times,” Lyles said earlier this summer at the U.S. championships in Eugene, Ore. “And now you’ve got to say no to somebody else when you really want to try and get your hands on as many things as possible.”

Sunday revealed what Lyles anticipated: Staying at the top is at least as hard as getting there.

Seville’s rapid footsteps finally caught Lyles on the big stage.

The Jamaican ran a personal-best time of 9.77 seconds in the 100-meter final of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, snatching away Lyles’ crown as the world’s fastest man.

Lyles, who entered the day as the reigning Olympic champ and world champ in the 100 but had a truncated run-up to Tokyo due to an injury, took bronze with a time of 9.89 seconds.

Kishane Thompson — who Lyles edged out for gold by five-thousandths of a second in the Paris Olympics — took the silver in 9.82 seconds.

“I came to the world championships with only four races over 100 metres under my belt,” Lyles told reporters in Tokyo after the race. “…

In the final, I was able to run my season’s best, and I will never be disappointed with that.”

Lyles and Thompson were the headliners Sunday.

But Seville stole the show. And Lyles, 28, got a visceral example of the challenge he knew was lurking.

The hunger surrounding him in this race was something different. Thompson, 24, ran with revenge in his heart next to Lyles.

The Jamaican’s better start again forced Lyles to dig deep to stay in the race.

Kenny Bednarek, 26, left the track with disappointment, finishing three-hundredths of a second behind Lyles.

Bednarek perhaps wants more than anyone to stick it to Lyles, especially after their incident in the 100-meter final at the U.S. championships.

Bednarek now has extra motivation to nab the 200-meter gold later this week.

Seville, meanwhile, ran like a man possessed, his considerable potential manifesting right before the eyes of the world.

For Lyles, losing the 100-meter final puts pressure on him to continue his dominance in the 200.

He’s won the last three world championships in that, his best discipline.

Winning a fourth straight is the kind of stamp Lyles wants on his legacy.

He also has a revenge arc of his own to complete after losing to Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in the Olympics.

Lyles battled COVID while racing the 200 in Paris and willed his way to a bronze.

And Tebogo, who repeatedly suggested Lyles talks too much, will assuredly be motivated to prove the Olympic win wasn’t a fluke, or just a product of Lyles catching COVID.

Lyles sensed this was coming. He knew it was part of the deal.

“I don’t like easy races. I hate them,” Lyles said last month. “I’d rather be thrown into the fire than just given a handout.

I don’t want any handouts. … No, I want you to try and take it off my head. So I have a reason to get excited.”

It’s been just over a year since he stunningly captured the most riveting 100-meter final in Olympic history.

Two years since he made national news with his “world champion of what?” dig at the NBA.

Three years since he blazed a new American record in the 200 at the 2022 world championships.

In other words, it was quite the climb up the pedestal on which he’s now perched. A lot of talking. A lot of gimmicks. A lot of wins.

Lyles set out to put his name on larger marquees than track could offer.

And he did. It’s an earned podium, paid for with all of his sweat, braggadocio and creativity.

Noah Lyles celebrates his bronze medal alongside Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, left, and Kishane Thompson at the World Athletics Championships. (Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)

As arduous as this journey must have been, staying demands even more.

Lyles wanted the luster of sports stardom. Having secured the spoils, he now grapples with its struggle.

Lyles can already feel the suction of access and opportunities.

The trap of opulence. After all the sacrifice, this level he’s reached is like grocery shopping on an empty stomach.

The adjustment needed to be as fast as his world-class closing speed.

Becoming Noah Lyles always included staying him long enough for his mark on the sport to fossilize.

“I wouldn’t say I tried to do it all,” he said in Eugene.

“I would say that I was starting to eat more than I necessarily needed to, but quickly rebranded, reassessed, and said, ‘Hey, this is too much.’”

Reinvention is a specialty of Lyles. Turning himself into a 100-meter king proved he could transition and execute.

But he had an edge to do so. A hunger. He wanted a thing, desperately, and it propelled him to new heights.

His challenge now is to make the fire of staying on top burn as hot as it did before.

These world championships, even before his main event, are already proof that he’ll need to find another level.

And how does he do that after becoming what he imagined?

He said he’s thought about how he wants to exit the game.

He said he’s already set up for his life post-racing. The money and opportunities will be there now.

The name Noah Lyles means something. But he’d like to leave on top. He’d like to walk away while still elite.

Which means he needs to stay a little while. That’s the task before him.

“It’s like reinventing, constantly finding that next motivation,” he said last month. “And sometimes it’s very hard.

But that’s when you’ve got to take a second, reevaluate, get calm, get quiet and then find yourself and know what direction you’re headed.”

After Sunday, it’s toward the Jamaicans ahead of him.

(Top photo of Jamaica’s Oblique Seville and Kishane Thompson beating Noah Lyles to the finish line in Sunday’s race: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)