PARIS, (Reuters) – After all the talk and all the hype, Noah Lyles duly delivered when it mattered most when he won a superlative Olympic 100 metres final by five thousandths of a second today to give the United States the title for the first time in 20 years.
In the most competitive final of all time, there was a blanket finish, with the stadium scoreboard initially flashing a photo to separate the first seven athletes and Lyles believing he had lost.
He was then confirmed him as the winner in a personal best 9.79 seconds, the same time as Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, but ahead by the width of a vest.
If the race had been 99 metres Thompson would have been celebrating a fourth Jamaican win in five Olympics, but fast-finishing Lyles kept his form superbly and timed his dip expertly to add Olympic gold to his world title.
He ripped his bib name from his shirt and held it aloft with his red, white and blue varnished fingernails, announcing himself, as he had always promised he would be, as the fastest man in the world.
“It’s the one I wanted, it’s the hard battle, it’s the amazing opponents,” said Lyles, the first American Olympic 100m champion since Justin Gatlin in 2004.
“Everybody came prepared for the fight and I wanted to prove that I’m the man among all of them, I’m the wolf among wolves.”
It was the first time eight men have broken 10 seconds in a wind-legal 100 metres race.
THOMPSON DISAPPOINTED
“I am a bit disappointed, but I am happy at the same time,” Thompson said. “I wasn’t patient enough with myself to let my speed bring me at the line, in the position that I know I could have gone to, but I have learnt from it.”
“I know that Jamaica would have wanted me to get the gold, everybody love winners. I would have loved to win today, but big up to the whole field.”
American Fred Kerley took bronze in 9.81 and Akani Simbini of South Africa was fourth, making it a remarkable six fourth or fifth-placed finishes in global championships, albeit with the consolation of a national record of 9.83.
Defending champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy, heavily strapped, finished fifth in 9.85 and Letsile Tebogo of Botswana also set a national record with 9.86 in sixth place.
Such was the quality of the race, that eighth-placed Oblique Seville of Jamaica still clocked 9.91 seconds.
Seville had finished ahead of Lyles in 9.81 in the semi-final when the American looked to be at full stretch.
However, the biggest showman in the sport and the star of the runaway success Netflix SPRINT series, has become a serious championship operator over the shorter distance, having won three 200m world titles and bronze over that distance at the last Olympics.
“I think back to Tokyo when I messed up handling the rounds. From then on, I was like, ‘I’m never going to do that again. I’m going to handle this correctly and practice over the years’,” he said. “It’s accumulated to this point.”
Lyles, 27, is targeting a possible four golds in Paris, in the 100m, his favourite 200m, the 4x100m relay and, possibly, the 4x400m relay.
That would emulate illustrious compatriots Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis, who achieved the feat at a single Games but with long jump instead of the longer relay.
Former world champion Kerly ran an excellent race to add bronze to his Tokyo silver medal.
“That was a great race and anyone could have won it,” he said. “I feel that I executed as best as I could. I came here for the gold and nothing else but, hey, everybody came here for the same thing and only one can win. Whoever came off the best, is the best.”