After charming the world as one of sports’ favorite couples, thanks to their prowess on the track, their unwavering support of each other, and their TikTok-worthy dance moves, Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles and Jamaican Olympic bronze medalist Junelle Bromfield are getting married. To celebrate and prepare, they posed for a photo shoot with celebrity wedding photographer Stanley Babb, and as always, they brought style and personality in spades. The theme? Vintage Italian charm. Champagne flowed, a classic Mercury Montclair convertible set the scene, and the couple delivered looks in two chic ensembles—all in the name of Black love.
“We wanted a Tuscan look with an old classy car,” says Bromfield. “We both love Tuscany, and our wedding venue has the same look as the engagement shoot location. Glass tent with a modern twist to it, and big chandeliers that give glamour.”
The couple, who announced their engagement in October 2024, are planning to tie the knot in the spring of 2026. Their story began in 2017, when Bromfield slid into Lyles’ DMs. As the story goes, they talked back and forth for some time before getting to actually meet in 2018.
“She was very quiet,” he recalls of their first interaction in person. “After having so many phone conversations, I wondered why she wasn’t talking.”
Lyles, however, was self-assured then and now, according to Bromfield. “Noah was very confident. I saw him first at junior meets prior to meeting him for the first time, and he was always dancing,” she says. “When we met in person, the music was loud and he was definitely dancing.” A first date didn’t initiate the sparks they were expecting, and so the two settled on being friends. They then became close friends.
But as the years passed, the chemistry became evident. So when an opportunity came for the Jamaican sprinter to move Stateside, Lyles took it as a sign.
“I felt like there were a lot of signs that year. We suddenly started seeing each other more in one year than we had seen each other since we became best friends in 2017,” he recalls. “And Junelle was moving to the USA that year, so I just knew it was time.”
She, however, was initially hesitant, worried that becoming more than friends would negatively impact what they’d built platonically.
“I still was not sure. I was afraid of losing our friendship because a lot of people date as friends, and that ruined their friendship, but I knew we had chemistry, so I was willing to take a risk.” To ease her mind, he offered to go about things in a way where the two could check in with one another often to ensure they were still OK with stepping out of the friend zone. “Noah came up with the 3-month trials, where we checked in every month to see how we could make the relationship better. It made me feel comfortable taking a risk.”
The relationship only blossomed from there. They trained together, traveled, and won hearts online with viral dance videos. Even with their packed schedules as elite athletes, they’ve built a life centered on quality time—and a healthy dose of competition.
“Junelle is very competitive, so she beats me in Catan from time to time,” Lyles admits. “We love game nights, finding new restaurants to eat at, especially when we travel, and finding new anime to watch together.”
The good times have been a constant. But they’ve also had to weather some storms that most couples know nothing about. With being a high-profile pair, they’ve both had to deal with criticism. Bromfield found herself dealing with more than just criticism, but also online colorist attacks, stemming from her relationship with Lyles after he beat Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson in a photo finish in the 100m final at the Paris Olympics. The situation made their relationship stronger.
“We would both say it increased the trust between each other,” they note. “We confided in each other even more. While everything was going on online, we had to make sure that the bad energy didn’t flow into our relationship. Because at the end of the day, we had the biggest stage to compete on and we knew that it was important that we both remain each other’s safe space.”
These days, they’re experts on tuning out the noise. “Somebody told me once that you don’t go to a stranger for advice, so why would their opinion matter? I live by that,” Bromfield says. “I only care what my close family and friends say.”
“Ignore them,” Lyles says about their detractors, who will likely be a constant presence as they continue to ascend in their sport. “I usually ignore comments and negative feedback.”
Being able to find peace with one another in the midst of that situation, and other tests, has brought them closer. Interestingly, Lyles had already been thinking about proposing long before the Olympics. By spring 2024, the two were casually ring shopping—though Bromfield didn’t realize what was coming.
“Around June 2024, I started looking for a ring, but I had known a lot more before,” he shares. “I knew that we were going to get married in our first year of dating, but I thought it would be too crazy to propose in the first year, so I waited. I knew I was going to start looking for a ring around April 2024, and that’s when I took Junelle ring shopping, and she was very confused on why we were going shopping cause she didn’t know that was a thing.”
He continues, “It took about four months of planning to get the proposal ready, and on many occasions, I was thinking about just throwing it all out the window and just spontaneously proposing to her, but she told me that I could not surprise her on the day when I propose. So I took it as a challenge and stuck to my guns and waited for the day that I had chosen.”
On that special day, October 12, 2024, in front of their close friends and loved ones, and a giant rose heart that read “Will you marry me?” surrounded by tiered candles, he got down on one knee and proposed.
As they approach their big day in less than a year, they’ve secured their venue, Bromfield has found one of the two dresses she will wear, and they’ve bought a home in preparation for their future, which is beyond bright. Though Lyles and Bromfield are already living their dreams as star athletes representing their respective countries, racking up medals and titles, nothing beats getting to do it together.
“I’m looking forward and planning for the changes that life will bring, whether it’s having children of our own or transitioning from being an athlete,” Bromfield says. “We have been through so many changes in both of our lives already, and we have come out shining, so I’m really excited to see the plans that God has for us. But I know we will be together in it.”
Check out the stunning images from their shoot, and learn a little bit more about their bond below.
“What I love most is our communication,” Bromfield says. “When we started as friends we had this incident occur between us. I wasn’t doing something right and not knowing how I would react, Noah instantly stopped me and gave his opinion. It was brutally honest and a little embarrassing but I appreciated it and grew from it. So I love how he communicates his opinion and is also very open to hearing mine.”
We have begun wedding planning and we found our wedding venue that we are really in love with,” she says. “I have recently found one of my wedding dresses and I’m in search of another one. We will be having our wedding celebration on April 4, 2026. We have an amazing wedding planner that’s making the process easier for both of us.”
“This has taught me a lot of patience, and I believe this is my best relationship ever,” Lyles shared on the podcast Inside Track last spring about his connection with Bromfield.
“The new thing that I have been appreciating is the view point of opinions that Junelle allows me to see,” Lyles shares of how their relationship has changed in the two years they’ve been together. “Her spirit of discernment is very strong.”
“I usually tend to separate our relationship from track a lot, because I feel as if we’re different people at the track,” Bromfield told The Knot. “It’s a whole different personality and everything. Even when we’re training together, Noah can’t call me ‘baby’ at the track, because at the track, I’m Junelle. I’m not your baby at the track.”
When Bromfield had to deal with a barrage of negativity online last summer, she paid it dust. “Melanin too dark to throw her shades,” she wrote on Instagram at the time, a nod to Beyoncé’s “Brown Skin Girl.”
After their stunning engagement in October, Lyles suprised Bromfield with keys to their gorgeous new home. “I’m usually hard to surprise but he got me this time,” she said when sharing a video of the special moment.
“Life have given us so many adventures together, I can’t wait to see what else it brings us while we grow,” Lyles tells ESSENCE about their future.
“We love game nights, finding new restaurants to eat especially when we travel and finding new anime to watch together,” he says.
Building a life, chasing a dream, and running toward forever — together.
