In a heart-stopping 100m final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Noah Lyles edged out Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson to claim gold by the slimmest of margins on Sunday. The race was one of the closest finishes in Olympic history, with Lyles securing victory by just 0.005 seconds. This win marks the first time an American has captured the 100m Olympic gold since Justin Gatlin in 2004.
The event was historic, with only 0.03 seconds separating the podium finishers and a mere 0.12 seconds between first and last place. Every runner finished under 10 seconds, a record under legal wind conditions. Lyles, aided by a 1.0 m/s tailwind, clocked a personal best of 9.79 seconds.
This victory further cements Lyles’ reputation as a premier sprinter, adding to his impressive performance at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, where he won gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay.
Thompson, who entered the Olympics as the fastest man of the year with a 9.77-second time from the Jamaican trials, initially thought he had won gold. A photo finish revealed Lyles had narrowly defeated Thompson.
Thompson finished in 9.79 seconds, just behind Lyles, and had to settle for silver—a bittersweet outcome after being the fastest qualifier in the semi-finals.
Fred Kerley, the reigning world champion from Eugene 2022, took bronze with a time of 9.81 seconds. South Africa’s Akani Simbine finished fourth in 9.82 seconds, while the defending Olympic champion, Italy’s Marcel Jacobs, finished fifth with 9.85 seconds despite struggling with an injury.
The race brought to mind the 1980 Moscow Olympics, where the top two finishers also shared the same hundredth of a second, underscoring the narrow margins in elite sprinting.
Lyles’ triumph not only solidifies his position as the leading sprinter of the post-Usain Bolt era but also sets the stage for his pursuit of a 100m and 200m double. He will aim to challenge Bolt’s world record in the 200m, with the final scheduled for Thursday, August 8, at 2:30 p.m. ET
