Featured Image Credit: @IShowSpeedHQ/X
An Olympic sprint champion took on a popular streamer in a race for a grand prize.
Despite Noah Lyles being the fastest man on the planet - and earning himself an Olympic 100m gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics - the results of this race left people gobsmacked.
When you think of social media influencer vs an athlete (you know, someone who trains in a sport for a living), the winner sounds like a no-brainer.
But popular streamer IShowSpeed (as the name basically suggests) impressed everyone with his ability to keep up in the organised 50-metre sprint.
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It wasn't just a random challenge either.
The pair went head to head on a track with the winner set to receive $100k from no other than YouTuber MrBeast.
Speed, real name Darren Jason Watkins Jr., proved his YouTube name wasn't just a hyped up name, keeping up with Lyles better than anyone expected.
The race was so close that some fans even thought the 19-year-old should consider professional training to go pro.
Lyles ended up winning the race altogether but it's likely the athlete wasn't running as hard as possible. At one point, he even turned his head to look at Speed as he passed him in the race.
As IShowSpeed tried to keep up, Lyles got out to a lead and seemed to showboat a bit as he high-stepped across the finish line.
Speed jokingly claimed it was a tie until shown the footage that he did actually lose.
However, the medallist saw potential.
"You should practice with me and then at the end of the week, we'll race again," Lyles told IShowSpeed.
"You'll be faster, you'll know what to do, you'll have the techniques, you'll have the advantage. Then we can run the real man's race, the 100 (metres)."
Viewers of the race on social media were shocked by Speed’s effort and performance.
Writing on the YouTube comments, the first user wrote: "first lose on a race to the fastest man alive is a accomplishment itself".
Another said: "I don’t know about y'all, but the race being THAT CLOSE, is actually MIND BOGGLING. Full Props to Speed."
A third user commented: “Im extremely impressed !! I understand what speeds saying. He's never had any kind of training before but he's depending on his raw natural talent.
"It's insane the fact that speed actually gave this man a race when he's never had a ounce of training before."
Someone else praised: "Speed not getting smoked was actually impressive."
And a fifth user chimed in: "Speed barely lost against the olympic champion, straight after a 3 hour drive. That's impressive. Huge W."
