Lyles takes victory by finest of margins

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Paris, August 5

Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson, disbelief and wonder writ on their faces, looked at the giant screen — in the shortest, maddest race of the Olympics, the men’s 100 metres, Lyles had timed 9.79 seconds, and Jamaica’s Thompson, the fastest man this year, had timed 9.79 seconds!

Then the mist lifted, the two men were separated by advanced machinery that measures time at these events — Lyles’ timing was expanded to 9.784, Thompson’s to 9.789. Victory to the American by five-thousandths of a second — by perhaps the width of a fingernail, the dust on Lyles’ shoes.

Fred Kerley won bronze in 9.81, and every man on the track easily finished under 10 seconds in the final late on Sunday night.

Lyles was the last man on the track after 30 metres; after 60 metres, he trailed both Kerley and Thompson.

Then, over the last 40 metres, Lyles ate up ground with his massive strides, and at the finish line, it was too close to call — it’s cruel that Thompson’s work over the years in his quest for gold had to come down to the final metre, for he had won the first 99 metres.

“It just goes to show races aren’t won with starts,” Lyles said later.

When they were introduced by the announcer before the race, Lyles ran down the halfway, roaring, Thompson shouted and Kerley put his fingers to his lips.

Then, unexpectedly, a strange wait lasting a few minutes — the floodlights had been switched off for the build-up, and they took time to return to full brightness.

Lyle, beaten to second in the semifinals by Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, grew calmer and confident.

Lyles did the 100m in 44 strides, one fewer than Thompson’s 45; at 60 metres, Thompson may have hit peak speed, but Lyles was still accelerating.

Lyles did the final 40 metres in 3.35 seconds, Thompson in 3.38. That made all the difference.

In a flash, it was all over, and began the few moments of anxiousness for the sprinters.

“It’s the one I wanted, it’s the hard battle, it’s the amazing opponents,” said Lyles after becoming the first American man to win the 100m gold since Justin Gatlin in 2004.

Lyles thought Thompson had won. “I did not think I won, I didn’t think I dipped at the right time, too early,” the 27-year-old said. “I even went up to Kishane while we were waiting and said ‘I think you got that one.’ But then my name popped up and I thought ‘oh my gosh, I’m amazing’.”

Lyles’ 100m victory takes him halfway to the 100-200m double, which he wants to achieve to emulate fellow Americans Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens.