US sprinter Noah Lyles clinches Olympic gold in men’s 100m

Paris, Aug. 6: US sprinter Noah Lyles Sunday took gold in the closest 100m final in modern Olympic history, becoming the first American to win the event since the 2004 Athens Games.

Noah Lyles snatched a photo-finish victory in the closest 100m final in modern Olympic history on Sunday to end the United States’ 20-year wait to recapture the world’s most prestigious sprinting crown.

In a nerve-shredding final at the Stade de France, Lyles, the charismatic 27-year-old from Florida, took gold by a fraction from Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson.

Lyles’ winning margin boiled down to just five thousandths of a second, with the American clocked at 9.784sec to Thompson’s 9.789sec, though both men’s times will be listed as 9.79sec.

It was the narrowest margin of victory since electronic timing has been used at the Olympics.

Lyles’ compatriot Fred Kerley took bronze in 9.81sec.

The race was so close that the electronic scoreboard in the arena simply read “photo” beside seven of the eight finalists.

After an agonising wait of several seconds, Lyles’ victory was confirmed, sparking wild celebrations from the reigning 100m and 200m world champion who is regarded as one of the global superstars as athletics.

“It’s the one I wanted,” an elated Lyles told Eurosport moments after his win.

“It’s the hard battle, it’s the amazing opponents. Everybody’s healthy, everybody came prepared for the fight and I wanted to prove that I’m the man amongst all of them. I’m the wolf amongst wolves.”

Lyles admitted though that even he had doubted whether he had clinched the gold.

“I went up to Kishane and I was like, ‘I’m gonna be honest, bro, I think you had that one,’” Lyles said.

“And I was fully prepared to see his name pop up and to see my name pop up, I’m like goodness gracious. I’m incredible.”

The win completes a rollercoaster three years for Lyles, who had left the pandemic-hit Tokyo Olympics in tears after a disappointing campaign, citing his mental health struggles and battles with depression.

Ukraine medal rush Lyles’ win was the sensational final act of another thrilling day in the Olympic athletics arena that saw three gold medals handed out.In other action, Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh lived up to her pre-Paris Games billing to win the women’s high jump.

The world champion and world record holder managed a best of 2.00 metres to win on countback from Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers.

Another Australian, Eleanor Patterson, claimed joint bronze with another Ukrainian, Iryna Gerashchenko, both on 1.95m. In the men’s hammer, Canadian world champion Ethan Katzberg won after unleashing a mammoth heave with his first throw to clinch the gold medal.

The 22-year-old from British Columbia registered 84.12m with his opening effort to leave his rivals trailing throughout the competition.

That was four metres further than his nearest rival, Hungary’s Bence Halasz, who took silver with a throw of 79.97m. Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan collected bronze with a throw of 79.39m. (AFP)