Team USA track star Noah Lyles and girlfriend Junelle Bromfield, a sprinter for Team Jamaica, couldn’t stop laughing while recalling their first date at Red Lobster in 2018.
During a joint appearance on the “Fast Lane Lifestyle” podcast, the couple of two years — who are both competing at the Paris Olympics — explained why things “didn’t click at all” between them at first.
“We went on a [first] date and it was like, ‘Nah, let’s just be friends,'” said Bromfield, who is competing in 400-meter events in Paris.
She took a plane ride from Jamaica to Miami, where Lyles lived at the time.
“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 recalled. “No words, no talk.”
Bromfield chimed in and said she was a “little nervous” at the time.
“I talk a lot, but I have to be comfortable before I start taking and it was just one day,” she said.
“A little? I got like whispers,” Lyles replied, laughing.
“I took her out to Red Lobster, introduced her to cheddar bay biscuits for the first time,” he said, laughing. “I’m feeding her good.
“I just didn’t click and we were like, ‘We’re just going to be friends.'”
Some time went by and the pair later connected with fellow runners at the Running Grand Prix.
“We go out and find this place of exotic taste,” Lyles said. “I’mma let you y’all fill in the blanks.”
“They wanted to go to the strip club,” Bromfield said.
They wound up dancing the night away together and sparks finally flew.
But the distance between them, along with busy training schedules, made it difficult to settle down.
Lyles and Bromfield then went their separate ways and moved on with other people.
But after years of back-and-forth talking, they reconnected in 2022 — when Lyles traveled to New York to see Bromfield — and they’ve been together since.
Bromfield previously lived with Lyles’ family in the U.S.
The couple, who celebrated their second dating anniversary Monday, said they live together now and train with the same group.
Lyles won gold in the men’s 100-meter final Sunday.
He then won the opening round of the men’s 200m in 20.19 seconds and was one full second away from Usain Bolt’s record the next day.
Bromfield finished third in the women’s 400m heat Monday with a time of 51.36 to advance to Wednesday’s semifinal.
She won bronze for Team Jamaica in the women’s 4x400m relay at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.