When Noah Lyles, one of the world’s leading sprinters, crossed the line in a 200-metre race in just 18.90 seconds, he thought he had taken the world record from legendary runner Usain Bolt – but all was not as it seemed.

The 22-year-old’s time at the recent Inspiration Games would have roundly beaten Bolt’s incredible record of 19.19 seconds set in 2009.

So shocked was the sporting world that several former athletes posted amazed comments online and Steve Cram, British Olympic middle-distance runner, who was commentating for the BBC on the race said: “That cannot be right, can it?!”

Unlike regular track events where runners compete alongside each other, the Inspiration Games heats were being conducted remotely from different tracks due to COVID-19.

The time set by Lyle was challenged quickly after the race after he smashed his personal best of 19.50 seconds.

It seems as though race organisers had accidentally placed him in the wrong lane before the start, which cut his running distance from 200 metres to just 185 metres – 15 metres shorter than his competition.

After finding out about the error, Lyle took to twitter posting: “You can’t be playing with my emotions like this. Got me in the wrong lane.”