Noah Lyles wins men’s 100m final
Noah Lyles beat Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by five-thousandths of a second to win Olympic gold in a stunning men’s 100m final.
The American crossed the line in 9.79 seconds — the exact same time that appeared on the board for Thompson.
Both men waited in disbelief after crossing the line before Lyles was confirmed as the winner, with his compatriot Fred Kerley claiming bronze in 9.81.
The race saw the fastest times ever for the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th-place finishers. And Lyles ran faster than he ever has ran before to beat them all.
“I hope you guys like Noah,” he grinned in an interview with the BBC after his victory. “Because I got a lot more coming!” Lyles will return to the track tomorrow for the 200m heats.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh won gold in the women’s high jump and Canada’s Ethan Katzberg won the men’s hammer throw final.
Noah Lyles knew this was going to be a close race
Noah Lyles has said he thought Kishane Thompson won at the tape. His coach, Ralph Mann, the 1972 silver medalist in the 400 hurdles, told him before the meet that this was going to be close. Lyles held his fingers less than an inch apart. “He told me, ‘this is what the distance between first and second is going to be.’ I can’t believe how right he was.”
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Today’s full track and field results
Three medals for Ukraine and two for the United States.
Women’s high jump
- Gold: Yaroslava Mahuckikh (Ukraine)
- Silver: Nicola Olyslagers (Australia)
- Bronze: Iryna Gerashchenko (Ukraine) and Eleanor Patterson (Australia)
Men’s hammer throw
- Gold: Ethan Katzberg (Canada)
- Silver: Bence Halasz (Hungary)
- Bronze: Mykhalo Kokhan (Ukraine)
Men’s 100m final
- Gold: Noah Lyles (United States)
- Silver: Kishane Thompson (Jamaica)
- Bronze: Fred Kerley (United States)
Noah Lyles: ‘I came with the aggression’
Noah Lyles, the fastest man in the world, has just briefly interrupted his celebrations to talk to the BBC:
💬 “You couldn't have asked for a bigger moment. I had to take every round as it was and I was a little upset after the first round so I came with the aggression and after I ran that 83 and I was done with the aggression. My sports therapist told me you need to let go, you're holding on. Let go and release it.
“I hope you guys like Noah because I got a lot more coming!”
Noah Lyles’ start won him that final
Based on below graphic, which splits the race into 10m segments, Noah Lyles went through 60m in 6.44. His PB, from USA indoors this year, was 6.43. It might not look like it, as he was last until 50m, but that start won him the race. He’s got everyone beat from halfway onwards, but needed to improve his start to put him in a position where he could use that top-end speed to chase others down.
Distilling three years of work into tenths and hundredths of seconds feels cruel but that’s how the 100m works. He now has a genuine shot at the 100/200 double.
Somebody is enjoying themselves
Good luck getting Noah Lyles to leave the Stade de France this evening.
Men’s 100m final: Complete result
- Noah Lyles, United States (9.784 secs) (PB)
- Kishane Thompson, Jamaica (9.789 secs)
- Fred Kerley, United States (9.81 secs) (SB)
- Akani Simbine, South Africa (9.82 secs) (NR)
- Marcell Jacobs, Italy (9.85 secs) (SB)
- Letsile Tebogo, Botswana (9.86 secs) (NR)
- Kenneth Bednarek, United States (9.88 secs)
- Oblique Seville, Jamaica (9.91 secs)
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A superb performance from Fred Kerley
Forgotten in the madness of Noah Lyles’ victory is that Fred Kerley finished third to nab his second Olympic medal with a 9.81.
Oblique Seville, who beat Lyles just two hours earlier, finished last in the final with a 9.91.
Analysis of Noah Lyles’ stunning race
I’ve done the math quickly but only with my eyes: Noah Lyles took 44 steps from the blocks to the line. Kishane Thompson took 45. That one extra step is the difference. Lyles opened his stride up better than anyone else and clawed back the space that others created from the start. It’s partly why Thompson and others started to decelerate quicker, because they had maxed out sooner and then started to fatigue and overcompensate.
There’s a great line from, I believe, Stephen Francis of MVP track club, who coaches Thompson. He used to talk about looking at the bottom lip of an athlete during a sprint to work out how relaxed they were (or not). If the lip was wobbling, they weren’t too stiff.
A historic race in every sense of the word
That race saw world-record times for 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th-place finishes. And Noah Lyles ran faster than he ever has run before to beat them all.
The closest men’s 100m final since 1980
That was the first finish to the thousandth since 1980, when Britain’s Allan Wells squeaked past Silvio Leonard of Cuba.
Wells won with a time of 10.25 seconds.
‘If it had been the 99.99 meter dash, he doesn’t take it’
The scoreboard reads Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson both ran 9.79, but Lyles had one more stride and a lean for the history books. It took the field a minute to know who won, but Lyles will savor that moment of a lifetime.
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How Lyles pipped Thompson to the post
Noah Lyles won it by just five-thousandths of a second. Kishane Thompson was leading for about 98m of that, but he tightened up while Lyles stayed loose, and he took it on the dip.
He waited. We all waited
He didn’t know for several seconds. No one did. The top five spots in the men’s 100m final read PHOTO. So Noah Lyles put an arm around Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who he spent almost 100 meters chasing down after a bad start. And waited. And waited. And then…
1 USA LYLES Noah 9.79.
Noah Lyles is the fastest human alive
Crown that man, Noah Lyles is the fastest human alive. The brash American made good on the prodigious hype he built himself, and will sprint out of Paris with the only medal befitting his aura: a gold one.
Years of a rollercoaster career has reached its pinnacle, and Lyles will be remembered forever. Team USA has its first 100-meter champion in 20 years.
By five-thousands of a second, Lyles eked by Kishane Thompson to win the gold by a whisker. And he will be more than happy to let you hear about it.
Noah Lyles wins by five-thousandths of a second
Noah Lyles wins the men’s 100m final in a time of 9.79.
Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson is second with an identical time on the clock. But he was five-thousandths of a second behind. Five-thousandths of a second.
Fred Kerley is in third.
What a sensational result for the United States!
Noah Lyles wins the men’s 100m final
Noah Lyles is the Olympic champion. He is the fastest man in the world. My word.
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It’s a photo finish
That was so close between Kishane Thompson and Noah Lyles.
Enjoy one of the greatest spectacles in sports, folks
I’d love to provide you all with second-by-second coverage of this race but my internet provider isn’t really up to it. So I suppose I shall see you all on the other side. Enjoy!
The lanes for today’s 100m final
I've been recruited by one of those aforementioned experts, the great Marcus Thompson (who is sitting next to me), to share the lane assignments for the 100-meter men's final that's forthcoming...
- Lane 2: Kenneth Bednarek, USA
- Lane 3: Fred Kerley, USA
- Lane 4: Kishane Thompson, Jamaica
- Lane 5: Akani Simbine, South Africa
- Lane 6: Oblique Seville, Jamaica
- Lane 7: Noah Lyles, USA
- Lane 8: Letsile Tebogo, Botswana
- Lane 9: Marcell Lamont Jacobs, Italy
