Just when you think about counting him out, he reels you back in. Noah Lyles is the newly-minted Olympic champion in the men’s 100m dash. Despite finishing runner-up in both his heat and semifinal, the reigning World champ pulled out a PB of 9.79 in the final to win the first American gold in this event since Justin Gatlin in 2004. Lyles finished .005 seconds ahead of Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who took home silver in his first global championship. Tokyo silver medalist Fred Kerley took bronze after going out in the semis last year in Budapest.

Here’s what you need to know:

- Lyles finished runner-up in both his heat (to Louie Hinchliffe, 10.04) and his semi (to Oblique Seville, 9.83), while Thompson jogged to a 10.00 to win his heat and finished with the fastest time across all semifinals with a 9.80 clocking. Heading into the final, it seemed like the 23-year-old Jamaican had all the momentum in the world.

- In the final, reigning Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs got out to the best start and led through 20m, but Thompson quickly made up the gap and led this race from the 25m mark to about the 99.99m mark.

- Lyles had the complete opposite experience, recording the T-slowest reaction time and sitting dead last through the first 40m. But as we’ve seen so many times from him in the last year-and-a-half, he gobbled up track in the second half of this race. His biggest jump was moving from seventh to third from 50m to 60m, and he put himself into the position where gold came down to a lean at the line.

- When the results were finally made official, they showed that Lyles ran 9.784 and Thompson ran 9.789. This was the first Olympic 100m final to be decided by thousandths-of-a-second since Allen Wells and Silvio Leonard both ran 10.25 in Moscow 1980.

- Kerley, the silver medalist from Tokyo, has been running through outside noise all year, but got the job done when it mattered most. His 9.81 was his fastest clocking since 2022 and the fourth-fastest of his career. When you include his World title from Eugene, Kerley now has three global medals to his name in the 100m.

Here’s what they said:

“I did think Thompson had it at the end. I went up to him after while we were waiting and said, ‘Bro, I think you got that Olympic gold.’ And then my name popped up and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m amazing.’”

- Noah Lyles on his thoughts while waiting for the official results to pop up in-stadium.

“I knew once the year started that this was not 2021. I knew every step of the way it was not 2021. Winning the U.S. Championships, going to Jamaica, getting beat by Oblique and still saying, ‘I ran 9.85, I’m still constantly moving forward, moving forward.’ I knew when the time came for me to be able to say, ‘This is the final, this is where I need to put it together,’ I knew I was going to be able to do it.”

- Lyles on the difference between 2024 and his last Olympic appearance in 2021

“I’m super grateful that I came out of here injury-free. I’m sure you guys know my past history with injuries… I’m a bit disappointed, but I’m super happy and grateful at the same time. I just got to take, and move forward from here… I would’ve loved to win today, but big up to the whole field, my competitors.”

- Kishane Thompson on his first Olympic experience.

By the numbers:

- These were the fastest semi finals in history. Prior to tonight, the fastest time to never make a final at Worlds or the Olympics was 10.00. Tonight, five men ran that or faster and failed to make the final.

- The final was also one of the fastest in history. It was certainly the deepest, as Seville ran 9.91 and finished last. It was the first time in history that eight men broke the 10 second barrier with a legal wind, and all of the men were well under 10 seconds.

- South Africa’s Akani Simbine finished fourth in a new national record of 9.82. The run is a bit bittersweet for Simbine, as it’s his sixth finish inside the top five at a global championship yet he’s never secured a medal.

- Jacobs finished fifth in 9.85, his third-fastest time ever. The only times he’s run faster were in the semis and final in Tokyo.

- Sixth-place finisher Letsile Tebogo, the silver medallist in this event from Budapest, ran 9.86 seconds, breaking his own Botswana national record.

- The gap from first to eighth in this race (.12 seconds) was smaller than the gap between first and second in the women’s race yesterday (.15 seconds).

Results:

1. Noah Lyles - 9.79

2. Kishane Thompson - 9.79

3. Fred Kerley - 9.81

4. Akani Simbine - 9.82 NR

5. Lamont Marcell Jacobs - 9.85

6. Letsile Tebogo - 9.86 NR

7. Kenneth Bednarek - 9.88

8. Oblique Seville - 9.91

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