Noah Lyles snatched a photo-finish victory in the closest 100m final in modern Olympic history on Sunday to end the United States’ 20-year wait to recapture the world’s most prestigious sprinting crown.
In a nerve-shredding final at the Stade de France, Lyles, the charismatic 27-year-old from Florida, took gold by a fraction from Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson.
Lyles’ winning margin boiled down to just five-thousandths of a second, with the American clocked at 9.784sec to Thompson’s 9.789sec, though both men’s times will be listed as 9.79sec.
It was the narrowest victory margin since electronic timing was used at the Olympics.
Lyles’ compatriot Fred Kerley took bronze in 9.81sec.
The race was so close that the electronic scoreboard in the arena simply read “photo” beside seven of the eight finalists.
After an agonizing wait of several seconds, Lyles’ victory was confirmed, sparking wild celebrations from the reigning 100m and 200m world champion, regarded as one of the global superstars as athletics.
“It’s the one I wanted,” an elated Lyles told Eurosport moments after his win.
“It’s the hard battle, it’s the amazing opponents. Everybody’s healthy, everybody came prepared for the fight and I wanted to prove that I’m the man amongst all of them. I’m the wolf amongst wolves.”
Lyles admitted though that even he had doubted whether he had clinched the gold.
“I went up to Kishane and I was like, ‘I’m gonna be honest, bro, I think you had that one,'” Lyles said.
“And I was fully prepared to see his name pop up and to see my name pop up, I’m like goodness gracious. I’m incredible.”
The win completes a rollercoaster three years for Lyles, who had left the pandemic-hit Tokyo Olympics in tears after a disappointing campaign, citing his mental health struggles and battles with depression.
The American is now targeting an Olympic double with victory in the 200m next week.
