The World’s Fastest Man Just Brought Trading Cards to Track and Field

 

Noah Lyles Onyx Authentic Autograph 2026 Onyx.

Check this card out on eBay

Noah Lyles has always been a little different. Most elite sprinters live in a world of splits, recovery sessions, and carefully measured media appearances. Lyles does all of that too, but he also shows up at card shows looking for rare Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards like a regular collector who just happens to be the Olympic 100-meter champion. That hobby, it turns out, is what led to something track and field has never really had before.

In the summer of 2026, Lyles and Onyx Authenticated launched the first proper track and field trading card set built the way collectors actually like them, packs, boxes, autographs, race-worn memorabilia, the whole experience. It dropped right as the USATF Outdoor Championships were happening at Icahn Stadium in New York, which felt intentional. Why sell these only online when the people who care most about the sport are already gathered in one place?

The idea came from a pretty casual conversation. A few years earlier Lyles was at a card show in Orlando, hunting for his own collection, when the promoter recognized him and offered to pay him to sit and sign. Lyles’s response was basically, “Sign what? There are no track cards.” That simple observation eventually connected him with Lance Fischer at Onyx. From there it grew. Lyles recruited athletes himself, some through his agency, some with direct calls, and ended up with a 45-athlete checklist that mixes established stars like Gabby Thomas, Mondo Duplantis, and Keely Hodgkinson with younger names people are just starting to notice, like Gout Gout.

What makes the set interesting isn’t just the names. Athletes are getting 50 percent of the proceeds. Lyles has been clear about that part: the more they sell, the more everyone makes. For a sport where most athletes outside the absolute top tier still scramble for appearance fees and shoe deals, a new revenue stream that doesn’t require them to race or do anything extra is meaningful. There’s also the memorabilia angle. Fans at meets constantly ask for race bibs or worn shoes, and athletes can’t always hand those over on the spot. Putting pieces of race-used gear into select cards solves that problem in a cleaner way.

Collectors who have already opened boxes are finding the usual mix of hits and autographs (including Lyles’s), limited parallels, and the occasional relic. The production was deliberately small, around 150 cases for the higher-end product, which keeps it from feeling flooded the way some mainstream sets do. Blaster boxes with a guaranteed auto are priced accessibly enough that casual fans can jump in without treating it like a high-stakes investment.

There’s something fitting about Lyles being the one to push this. He’s spent years talking about wanting track and field to feel bigger, cooler, more visible. Trading cards won’t fix everything about the sport’s marketing challenges, but they give fans something tangible to chase and share. They create a reason for people who only watch every four years to stay engaged in between. And they give the athletes themselves a small piece of ownership in how their likeness and performance get turned into collectibles.

It’s still early. The set just hit the market in late July 2026, and the secondary market will eventually decide how serious the demand really is. But the fact that it exists at all feels like progress. For once, track and field didn’t have to wait for someone else to notice the opportunity. One of its biggest stars simply looked around, saw what was missing, and helped build it.