Noah Lyles Wins Olympic 100 By Five-Thousandths Of A Second, Among Closest Finishes In Games History

Saint-Denis, France —Noah Lyles won the Olympic 100 meters by. 005 seconds on Sunday. He waited around 30 seconds after the end of one of the tightest sprints in history to learn he had defeated Kishane Thompson of Jamaica.

When Lyles, Thompson, and five others crossed the finish line, “Photo” appeared on the scoreboard beside their names.

Noah Lyles Wins Olympic 100 By Five-Thousandths Of A Second, Among Closest Finishes In Games History

Lyles paced the course, hands draped over his head. Finally, the figures popped up. Lyles won in 9.784 seconds, beating the Jamaican by five-thousandths of a clock tick.

Lyles believed he had given up the win by sinking at the line too soon, so he approached Thompson and told him, “Bro, I think you got that one.”

“But then my name popped up and I’m like ‘Oh my gosh, amazing!'”

America’s Fred Kerley finished third with a 9.81.

“That’s probably one of the most beautiful races I’ve been in,” added the athlete.

The top seven all finished within 0.09 of one another.

This was the closest 1-2 finish in the 100 since Moscow in 1980 – possibly ever. Back then, Allan Wells of Britain narrowly defeated Silvio Leonard in an era when electronic timers did not get down to thousandths of a second. The same was true in 1932 when Eddie Tolan won the Olympics’ inaugural photo finish.

Thankfully, they do now.

“I thought I had (him) cleared,” Thompson added. “But I was unsure. It was very close.”

Lyles became the first American to win the Olympics’ flagship event since Justin Gatlin in 2004.

The 9.784 is also a personal best for Lyles, who promised to bring his brand of excitement to the track and delivered this time.

He will be a favorite later this week in the 200 meters, his best race, and will attempt to join Usain Bolt as the latest man to win both Olympic sprints.

To put that in perspective, the average blink of an eye lasts 1 second, which is 20 times longer than the interval between the first and second in this one.

What exactly was the difference? Perhaps Lyles’ closing pace and the tilt into the line he thought were untimely.

He and Thompson had two of the three slowest blasts off the blocks, and Thompson had enough of a “lead” by the halfway point. The photo finish shows Kerley’s orange shoe, which is far ahead of everyone else at the finish line. However, the chest breaks the barrier that matters, and Lyles outperforms everyone by a sliver.

When the American realized he had added the Olympic title to the 100 meters he won at the world championships last year, he removed his name tag and hoisted it to the skies before bringing his hands to his side and pointing at the camera.

“America, I told you I got this!” he exclaimed into the camera.

Yes, he is the world’s fastest man. But not by a lot.

Gold (and bronze) for Ukrainian high jumpers.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh earned Olympic gold in the high jump for her war-torn country of Ukraine, and she was not alone. Her friend Iryna Gerashchenko won bronze, and the teammates hopped, skipped, and bounced around the track, waving their blue-and-yellow flags in genuine joy.

Mahuchikh cleared the winning height of 2 meters in fewer tries than Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers, adding the sport’s most prestigious award — Olympic gold — to her world championship and world record.

Kerr vs. Ingebrigtsen is a go for heated men’s 1500.
The best rivalry in track will culminate Tuesday when reigning world champion Josh Kerr of Britain faces defending Olympic winner Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway.

Noah Lyles Wins Olympic 100 By Five-Thousandths Of A Second, Among Closest Finishes In Games History

They met again in Sunday’s semifinal, and Ingebrigtsen edged off the Brit, looking across to him twice as they drove down the homestretch to win a race that felt more important than it should have in 3:32.38.

“They should be expecting one of the most vicious and hardest 1,500s the sport’s seen in a very long time,” Kerr told ESPN.

Did Ingebrigtsen agree?

“It depends who you ask, maybe,” he said. I mean, racing is what you want it to be.”

SOURCE | AP