Noah Lyles has struck back at compatriot Fred Kerley who was left furious at the sprinter's inclusion in Team USA's 4x400m relay team at the World Indoor Championships.
Lyles has made no secret of his desire to run the 4x400m relay at the Paris Olympics this summer despite not being a regular 400m runner.
The 26-year-old three-time world champion over 200m and also won gold in Budapest last year in the 100m final.
But not content with just the shorter distances, Lyles has set his sights on going for gold in the 4x400m relay too.
He got his wish for a trial run in the World Indoor Championships final on Sunday, where he was drafted in for the third leg as Team USA won silver behind Belgium.
Lyles handed over the baton to Chris Bailey with USA in the gold medal position, but Alexander Doom managed to pip him to the line.
But Lyles' inclusion in the relay team raised some eyebrows with Kerley, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics in the 100m, left furious over his compatriot's selection.
Kerley launched into an explosive rant over a series of posts on X where he accused the USATF of being "puppets".
Kerley first wrote: “@usatf y’all play that favoritism like mf. Yall like puppets. For sure yes man."
He added in another post: "Man I tell you last 3 year we been asking to be in that ish f*** that Olympic storyline s*** yall puppets no in between either."
When Lyles was asked when he decided to run in the 4x400m relay, Lyles replied: "I told Mike back at USA that I would be open if you need me.
"After the 60, we went back to the hotel and my coach let Mike know again that if they needed me I was open.
"I've been training for it and I'm very well within the parameters if they needed it.
"He said he wouldn't know anything until after the first round. I made sure that I warmed up today in the morning and that's why a lot of people were watching me warm up.
"After the first round I got the call..."
Lyles went on to explain that he didn't get any explanation as to why he was subbed in and he was then asked about Kerley's comments.
The sprint champion took a shot back at his compatriot by insisting Kerley had every chance of being in his place.
"He could be here, but he ain't," Lyles said.
"If he mad at that, come on out here."
But Lyles was happy with his own performance having had little competitive experience at the 400m distance indoors.
He said: "To be honest, I felt easy and relaxed but it's funny, you train so much outdoor in lane one and then you come into indoor and I'm talking to the boys... coming off that turn, it ain't fun.
"It's really not banked that well so when I was trying to come off I couldn't really stand up as much as i wanted but I'm still trying to keep my hips underneath me.
"I told my man I'm gonna give it to you in first and I had to make good on my promise."
