In a thrilling 100m final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Noah Lyles emerged victorious over Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson, securing the gold medal by an incredibly narrow margin on Sunday.
The race was hailed as one of the closest finishes in Olympic history, with Lyles winning by just 0.005 seconds. This victory marks the first time an American has won the 100m Olympic gold since Justin Gatlin in 2004.
The race was a spectacle, with only 0.03 seconds separating the podium finishers and a mere 0.12 seconds between the first and last place. Every competitor ran under 10 seconds, a feat never before achieved in Olympic history under legal wind conditions. Lyles, propelled by a 1.0 m/s tailwind, finished with a personal best of 9.79 seconds.
His triumph adds to his status as a world sprinting icon, following his successes at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, where he claimed gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay.
Thompson, who arrived at the Olympics as the fastest man of the year with a 9.77-second performance at the Jamaican trials, initially believed he had secured the gold. The race required a photo finish to determine the winner, revealing Lyles had edged out Thompson by the slimmest of margins.
Thompson completed the race with a time of 9.79 seconds, just behind Lyles. Despite his outstanding performance, Thompson had to settle for silver, a result he found bittersweet after having been the fastest qualifier in the semi-finals earlier that day.
Fred Kerley, the reigning world champion from Eugene 2022, took the bronze with a time of 9.81 seconds. South Africa’s Akani Simbine finished fourth in 9.82 seconds, followed by the defending Olympic champion, Italy’s Marcel Jacobs, who clocked 9.85 seconds despite suffering an injury that left him limping.
The race evoked memories of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, where the top two finishers also recorded the same hundredth of a second, highlighting the razor-thin margins in elite sprinting.
Lyles’ victory not only establishes him as the leading sprinter of the post-Usain Bolt era but also sets the stage for his attempt at a 100m and 200m double at these Games. He aims to challenge Bolt’s world record in the 200m, with the final set to take place on Thursday, 8 August, at 2:30 p.m. ET.
