During an appearance on the Fast Lane Lifestyle podcast, American sprinter Noah Lyles and his Jamaican girlfriend Junelle Bromfield revealed things did not kick off well on their first date as they “didn’t click at all.”
Per the New York Post, Lyles and Bromfield went to Red Lobster for their first date in 2018, and Bromfield flew from Jamaica to Miami for that meeting. But the couple recalled things did not go as planned when they met.
“We went on a [first] date and it was like, ‘Nah, let’s just be friends,’” Bromfield, who is a sprinter for Team Jamaica and is also competing at the Paris Olympics, said.
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“I pick her up in my car. I’m excited … I got my all-white Beamer [at the time]. I pick her up from the airport — dead silent,” Lyles, 27, also added. “No words, no talk.”
Bromfield, however, explained the awkwardness stemmed from her being “a little nervous” when they met. “I talk a lot, but I have to be comfortable before I start taking and it was just one day,” Bromfield, 26, said.
But Lyles responded with a laugh and said, “A little? I got like whispers.” “I took her out to Red Lobster, introduced her to cheddar bay biscuits for the first time,” he continued. “I’m feeding her good. I just didn’t click and we were like, ‘We’re just going to be friends.’”
The couple eventually tried to give it another try when they met at the Running Grand Prix, the New York Post reported. “We go out and find this place of exotic taste,” Lyles said. “They wanted to go to the strip club,” Bromfield, who won bronze in the women’s 4x400m relay at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, added.
That meeting fortunately went well as they danced and established a connection. But they had issues settling down because of their packed training schedules and distance issues. The pair ended up seeing other people when they separated – though they eventually worked things out again in 2022.
Bromfield was spotted in the stands when her beau clinched gold in the men’s 100-meter final on Sunday. The pair were also seen hugging after the race. Lyles also has a chance to win another medal as he’s still competing in the men’s 200m event.
Bromfield, on the other hand, will be competing in the women’s 400m semifinal on Wednesday.
