PARIS, Aug 5 – Noah Lyles ended the United States’ 20-year wait for the men’s 100m Olympics gold with a new personal best of 9.79 seconds (s) at the Stade de France, Sunday night.
The 27-year-old edged Jamaican Kishane Thompson (9.79s) on photo-finish by a 0.005s advantange, while another American sprinter and last edition’s silver medallist, Fred Kerley (9.81s) took the bronze.
Tokyo 2020 champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy was only able to finish in fifth with 9.85s.
“It’s been a rollercoaster, ups and downs. I think back to Tokyo when I messed up handling the rounds. From then on, I was like, ‘I am never going to do that again. I am going to handle this correctly and practise over the years.
“It’s accumulated to this point. You only need one. As long as that’s the last one, that’s all that matters,” said Lyles, who claimed 200m bronze in Tokyo.
Lyles had the chance to return home with three gold medals, as he next sprints in the 200m and 4x100m events.
The last American to bag gold in the blue ribbon event at the Olympics was Justin Gatlin, who took the title at Athens in 2004.
Since then, the Americans had to make do with podium finishes as Jamaican Usain Bolt dominated the event in three-editions – Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Bolt’s world and Olympic records remain intact, with times of 9.58s (August 2009 in Berlin) and 9.63s (August 2012 in London), respectively.
Yesterday, Malaysian sprinter Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi’s Olympics debut in the 100m event, ended in the first round after he was only able to finish in last (ninth) place, clocking 10.45s in Heat 2, way off from his national record mark of 10.09s.
