Introduction: Noah Lyles won gold

SAINT-DENIS, France — Since last August,
Noah Lyles has been firmly and unequivocally
convinced that the title of “World’s
Fastest Man” belongs to him.

claim his first Olympic gold medal

claim his first Olympic gold medal in the 100m final.
He beat Keeshan Thomson of Jamaica by 0.005 seconds,
the fastest time in the world that year.
“We were waiting for the names to come out and

I honestly went to Thompson and I thought, ‘I think you got it,
big doc,'” Lyles said in a post-race interview
press conference. “I said something to build on,
and it was such a race , so I thought, “I’m going to fall.”

The 100m final was the closest since
at least the 1980 Moscow Games and perhaps until now.
With a time accurate to thousandths of a second,

Briton Alan Wells narrowly beat
Sylvio Leonard in 10.25 seconds.
Omega, the official timekeeper of all
Olympic events, said Lyles reached his top

speed at 65.15m and was behind at the time. His top speed reached 43.6 km/h or 27.1 mph and he maintained this speed until the end of the race.

What’s funny is my ‘Ralph Mann’

“What’s funny is my ‘Ralph Mann’ (biomechanist),” Lyles says, raising his hand. Between his index finger and his thumb, I can’t believe how right he was.

Lyles is the first American to win the famous race since Justin Gatlin in 2004 Lyles

has a chance at a second gold medal if he reaches the 200-meter final on Wednesday night.

Lyles’ only other Olympic medal was a bronze medal in the 200m at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

Reigning Olympic champion Marcel Jacobs from Italy competed in the 100 meter final on Sunday. Thompson is a Jamaican who started this year with the fastest time in the world (9.77 seconds). and two of Lyles’ American teammates, Kenny Bednarek and Fred Curley.

Carly finished third with a time of 9.81 seconds and won the bronze medal. Bednarek finished seventh with 9.88 seconds.

Thompson’s time in the final was just 0.02 seconds slower than the time he set at the trials in Jamaica earlier this summer. His incredible time of 9.77 seconds seemed to be a clear sign that he would eventually reach the podium in Paris.

“I’m going to be disappointed, but at the same time I’m going to be very happy and grateful,” Thompson said. “I just have to accept everything as it is and move on.”

Thompson led for most of the sprint until Lyles broke through in the final 10 meters. Even then, it was clear that the competition was heading towards an exciting photo finish.

“I wasn’t patient enough with my speed,” Thompson said.

With an hour and a half to go before the semi-final, Team Jamaica warned the remaining runners. Thompson’s 9.80 semifinal sprint was the fastest of the round. She was followed with a personal best of 9.81 seconds by fellow Jamaican Oblique Sevilla, who competed in a separate race in which Lyles also competed.

“Everybody knows that title goes to the Olympic champion and the world champion,” Lyles said last week. “I am one…and soon to be another.”

These words proved prophetic.