Olympian Noah Lyles may be the “fastest man in the world,” but with his girlfriend, Jamaican athlete Junelle Bromfield, he took his time.
The couple met in 2017 through social media, and after months of talking, they met up in person. However, things didn’t go quite as well during their first date and the two decided to stay friends rather than pursue anything more.
“Whenever I get in a relationship, I’m very serious,” Lyles explained during an interview on the Fast Lane Lifestyle podcast.
After that failed first date, the pair remained in touch. In 2022, Lyles decided to give romance another shot and asked her out again. Since then, they’ve become inseparable.
“We’re going to grow old together and it’s going to be forever,” he remarked on the Fast Lane Lifestyle podcast.
As of now, they’re not only living together in Florida, but they also trained for the Olympics with one another. Although they keep things professional on the track, they have plenty of public displays of affection on social media. In April 2024, Bromfield even shared the latest romantic gesture from Lyles: a car.
She posted a video of Lyles unveiling a brand-new Hyundai Genesis on Instagram with the caption, “First car 🥳💙. Paper work took so long my excitement ran out 😂😂. Thank you baby ❤️🔐.”
So who is Noah Lyles’ girlfriend? Here’s everything to know about Junelle Bromfield and her relationship with the world championship winner.
She’s from Jamaica
Bromfield was born on Feb. 8, 1998, in Black River, Jamaica.
Lyles has traveled with Bromfield to her hometown many times and has embraced her culture wholeheartedly. During a 2024 press conference, he wore a Jamaican-inspired Adidas kit, a fashion statement he credited to his girlfriend.
He also expressed his own love of the country, telling reporters, “When you go to Jamaica, you’re treated like a freaking rock star.”
She’s an Olympic sprinter
Like Lyles, Bromfield is an Olympic-level track-and-field athlete with plenty of awards to her name.
She’s also a sprinter — while Lyles primarily competes in the 100 and 200 meters. Bromfield specializes in the 400, and during the 2020 Summer Olympics, she even won a bronze medal, just like her beau.
The couple will also have a chance to compete alongside each other at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. Lyles will be competing in the men’s 100m and 200m, while Bromfield will be representing Jamaica in the women’s 4x400m relay and the women’s 400m.
After Bromfield secured her spot on the Olympic team, Lyles was quick to congratulate her on X (formerly known as Twitter), writing, “THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!!!!! @JunelleBromfiel IS GOING TO THE OLYMPICS IN THE 400m!!!!”
They started dating in August 2022
Track’s biggest power couple is going on two years together.
The pair, who started dating in summer of 2022, went Instagram official a few months later in December. Bromfield accompanied Lyles to the USATF Night of Legends celebration, where he took home the Male Athlete of the Year Award. The next day, both shared images of their red carpet date night on social media.
In August 2023, Bromfield marked their first anniversary with a sweet message on Instagram. “Cheers to 7 years of friendship 🫂, 6 months of dating 🍽️, 1 year of being your partner 👩🏿❤️💋👨🏾, And to forever loving you ❤️🙏🏿” she captioned the post.
They were friends first
Prior to their 2022 romance, the two were friends for several years.
During a joint interview on the Fast Lane Lifestyle podcast, the couple spoke candidly about their relationship, saying Bromfield initially reached out to Lyles via social media. “I slid in the DM’s,” she admitted, laughing.
“In 2017, she slides in my DM’s and we started chit chatting a little,” Lyles then shared, adding that at first, he was “very defensive” and had his guard up. He went on to describe how their relationship unfolded over the next few months as they spoke more often and even played iPhone games together.
The following year, they finally met up in person, but surprisingly, he said, they “just didn’t click” on that first date.
“It didn’t click at all,” Bromfield added with a laugh. “It was like, ‘No, let’s just be friends.’ ”
They maintained a friendship – and a flirtation – for several years, and they didn’t talk much while in other relationships. Eventually, in 2022, they reconnected when Lyles reached out to ask Bromfield if she wanted to get together and give it another shot.
For their second date – nearly five years after they first met – the pair went out for sushi, where Lyles taught her how to use chopsticks.
He’s had a positive impact on her mental health
Lyles has been extremely open about his own mental health, sharing his use of antidepressants in 2020 and the impact it had on his training.
“Just because I’m struggling doesn’t mean that I’m going to quit,” the athlete told PEOPLE. “I’m a human being, I’m not a superhero, I have feelings, I have emotions.”
His advocacy has had a major impact on his fans as well as his girlfriend.
“I started therapy about two years ago because my boyfriend is big on therapy and felt I needed it,” Bromfield said in an interview with The Inside Lane. “It’s been really helpful because I’ve been dealing with survivor’s guilt, which was weighing on me. Now, I feel like I can live my life fully and enjoy every moment because life is short.”
She has a close relationship with his family
Along with his influence on mental health care, Bromfield told The Inside Lane that her relationship with Lyles gave her a stronger support system. In particular, she opened up about her close bond with his family, specifically his mom, Keisha Caine.
“I want to give a big shout-out to my boyfriend and his mom because when I went to Florida, I wasn’t driving, and she took me to training and back every day, which was like 40 minutes,” she said. “That’s a support that I’m extremely grateful for.”
At some point after the pair started dating, Bromfield moved to Florida to join a track and field training group. Instead of cohabiting with Lyles, though, she initially lived with his mom, she explained on the Fast Lane Lifestyle podcast.
“[His] mom was like, ‘You can’t live by yourself. You’ve got to come and live with us.’ So I lived there and she took me to practice every single morning and picked me up,” she said.
“She now lives with me,” Lyles added. “My sister, my mom, my pops, they were heartbroken.”
They keep their personal and professional lives separate
Although the two Olympic sprinters are in the same training group now, they keep their romantic life and their running life separate.
“Even before we started dating, we had a very good balance,” Lyles told Fast Lane Lifestyle podcast. “We’d show up to quite a few track meets that we were both at and, we weren’t dating at the time, but nobody would know that we knew each other,” he said. “We had our own mindset and our own headspace.”
Their relationship may have changed, but that boundary has remained the same. “She won’t even let me call her ‘baby’ at practice,” he said.
Off the track, they unwind in a playful way. “We love to dance, and we love to dance together,” Lyles said. “That’s one of our main hobbies.”
He’s even shared some of their dance moves on social media.
They make each other better
During an interview on the Inside Track podcast, Lyles spoke about his strong relationship with Bromfield.
“It has taught me a lot of patience and I believe this is my best relationship ever,” he said. The athlete went on to say that they prioritize good communication as a couple, particularly since they have different needs. He explained that while he prefers to talk about conflicts right away, Bromfield typically needs some time and space to clear her head.
Although they’ve learned to adapt to one another, they also accept one another for exactly who they are.
“When we became friends, I told him that I liked him because of [his] brutal honesty,” Brumfield said on the Fast Lane Lifestyle podcast. “That’s what drew me to him.”
As for Lyles, being understood and accepted for his blunt honesty was what sealed the deal. “Hearing stuff like that I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I need this woman in my life,’ ” he said.
“I already liked you but that’s a solidified answer of like, okay, we’re going to grow old together, and it’s going to be forever, and it’s going to be constant,” he shared. “Hearing things like that is like, yeah, I’d want a woman like that to raise my kids.”
By People
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
