Noah Lyles takes gold in 100m final at Paris Olympics
Lyles was pushed to another personal best by Jamaica's Kishane Thompson, who took silver in a photo finish
Photo by:
Nick Iwanyshyn
The men’s 100m final was a race for the ages on Sunday as the double world champion, Team USA’s Noah Lyles, took the gold medal in a blazing 9.79 seconds, but it was not without a nail-biting photo finish. Lyles was pushed to run the fastest time of his career by Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, the fastest man in the world over 100m this year, who also ran 9.79 and was awarded the silver medal. Fred Kerley of the U.S. took the bronze medal in a season’s best 9.81 seconds.
Akane Simbine of South Africa was fourth with a new South African national record of 9.82, leaving the defending Olympic champion, Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy, languishing in fifth place, with 9.85. Canada’s Andre De Grasse, the two-time Olympic bronze medallist, did not make the final, finishing fifth in his heat of the semi-final earlier on Sunday.
All eight finalists crossed the line within 0.12 seconds, and commentators initially assumed Thompson had won.
Men’s 100m final results
- Noah Lyles (USA) 9.79 PB
- Kishane Thompson (Jamaica) 9.79
- Fred Kerley (USA) 9.81 SB
- Akani Simbine (South Africa) 9.82 NR
- Lamont Marcell Jacobs (Italy) 9.85 SB
- Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) 9.86 NR
- Kenny Bednarek (USA) 9.88
- Oblique Seville (Jamaica) 9.91
Lyles lowered his personal best down another two-hundredths of a second in the race, having just run 9.81 at the London Diamond League on July 20.
Lyles’s coach, Lance Brauman, says he predicted Lyles would run a PB in the final: “I know his fitness level, and I was pretty confident he was going to run a PB, I have for the past three weeks. It was just a matter of, was he going to run a big enough PB to win the race?”
The American said earlier this summer that his goal is to earn four medals at the Paris Games, i.e., the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and the 4x400m relay. Time will tell whether he can make good on his goal; the men’s 200m heats are scheduled for Monday, Aug. 6, with the 4x100m relay heats going on Thursday, Aug. 8, and the 4x400m on Friday, Aug. 9.
Athletics events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are taking place from Aug. 1-11. Today’s coverage is brought to you by Canadian Running and PUMA Canada. Follow us on Twitter on Instagram for all things Team Canada and up-to-date exclusive news and content.
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