Noah Lyles wins Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter final with a personal-best time of 9.784 seconds for the first time, just beating Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by 0.005 seconds. Since last August Noah Lyles has confidently claimed the title of “world’s fastest man.” On Sunday night at the Stade de France, he proved it.
“We were waiting for the names to pop up, and I told Thompson, ‘I think you got that one, big dawg!'” Lyles said. “But something told me to lean, and I did.”
The finish was the closest 100 meter final since at least the 1980 Moscow Olympics. According to Omega, the official timekeeper, Lyles hit his peak speed of 43.6 km/h (27.1 mph) at the 65.15-meter mark, even though he was trailing at that point.
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“My biomechanist, Ralph Mann, predicted it would be a close race, and he was right,” Lyles said.
Lyles is the first American to win the 100 meter gold since Justin Gatlin in 2004. He now has a chance to win another gold in the 200-meter finals on Wednesday.
Sunday’s final also included Marcell Jacobs, the defending Olympic gold medalist, and Lyles’ American teammates Kenny Bednarek and Fred Kerley. Kerley earned bronze with a time of 9.81 seconds, while Bednarek finished seventh with a time of 9.88 seconds.
Thompson, who had the world’s fastest time this year (9.77 seconds), was leading for much of the race until Lyles surged ahead in the final 10 meters.
“I’m disappointed but also grateful,” Thompson said. “I just have to move forward from here.”
In the semifinal round, Thompson’s 9.80-second run was the fastest, with his teammate Oblique Seville close behind at 9.81 seconds. Seville had beaten Lyles earlier this year in the Bahamas, but Lyles was determined to prove himself in the final.
“After winning the 100-meter world championship in Budapest last August, I knew I was the world’s fastest man,” Lyles said. “And now I’ve proved it again.”
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These words turned out to be prophetic as Lyles claimed his gold and cemented his place as the fastest man in the world.
