American sprinter Noah Lyles is officially the fastest man on the planet, winning gold in the men’s 100m Olympic final at Stade de France by the barest of margins.
The 27-year-old superstar finished the dash five-thousandths of a second faster than Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, with the duo crossing the line almost simultaneously.
There was a nervous wait as Olympic officials looked over the footage, with Lyles and Thompson both registering a time of 9.79s.
However, the American superstar started celebrating his triumph when he was proclaimed the champion by 0.005 seconds, also notching a personal best.
Fred Kerley from the United States won bronze with a season best time of 9.81, one-hundredth of a second ahead of South Africa’s Akani Simbine.
Lyles became the first American, male or female, to win the event since Justin Gatlin won in the 2004 Athens Games
More to come …
SEMI-FINALS
Lyles and defending champion Marcell Jacobs both ran well to qualify for the final but it was the Jamaican pair of Thompson and Oblique Seville who looked like they had hit the track at the Stade de France in top form.
Lyles clocked 9.83sec in finishing second behind Seville, who won the first semi in a blistering personal best of 9.81sec.
There was a surprise in the second semi featuring Jacobs as South African Akani Simbine won in 9.87sec ahead of Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (9.91sec).
Jacobs dipped at the line to edge Kenny Bednarek from the United States for third place by a hundredth of a second in a season’s best of 9.92sec.
That was just enough to see the Italian and the American qualify for the final as the two fastest finishers outside the two automatic spots from each of the three semis.
Thompson looked impressive as he won the third and final semi-final in 9.80sec ahead of American Fred Kerley in 9.84sec.
Lyles claimed bronze in Tokyo in the 200m, and owns the third fastest time in history in that event.
He took a major step towards his 100m gold dream by winning treble gold (100, 200 and 4x100m relay) at last year’s world championships in Budapest.
“I know exactly where I am ahead of Paris,” said Lyles, who arrived in Paris after setting a personal best of 9.81sec at the London Diamond League. “The more eyes on me, the better I perform, or at least that’s what my therapist says. When the TV cameras are on me and people are there, I am not losing.”
After that win in London, Lyles sent a message to his rivals, including Thompson, the fastest man of the year after his 9.77sec in Kingston last month.
“I beat everyone that I touch,” Lyles said. “I don’t see why the Jamaicans are any different. This is what I pray for, this is what I live for and I back myself up, don’t I?”
His brazen approach rubs many other people up the wrong way, not least legions of NBA basketball players — and their fans — after Lyles had questioned their claim to be real “world champions”.
Nobody can deny Lyles the title of the world’s fastest man now.
