SAINT-DENIS, France — Noah Lyles won the Olympic 100 meters by .005 seconds Sunday, waiting some 30 seconds after the finish of one of the closest sprints in history to find out he’d beaten Kishane Thompson of Jamaica.
The word “Photo” popped up on the scoreboard next to the names of Lyles, Thompson and five others after they crossed the line. Lyles paced the track with his hands draped over his head. Finally, the numbers came up. Lyles won in 9.784 seconds to edge out the Jamaican by five-thousandths of a tick of the clock.
America’s Fred Kerley came in third at 9.81. The top seven all finished within .09 of each other.
This was the closest 1-2 finish in the 100 since at least Moscow in 1980 — or maybe even ever. Back then, Britain’s Allan Wells narrowly beat Silvio Leonard in an era when the electronic timers didn’t go down into the thousandths of a second.
Thank goodness they do now.
“I thought I had (him) cleared,” Thompson said. “But I wasn’t sure. It was so close.”
Lyles became the first American to win the marquee event in Olympic track since Justin Gatlin in 2004.
The 9.784 also marks a personal best for Lyles, who has been promising to add his own brand of excitement to track and certainly delivered this time.
He will be a favourite later this week in the 200 meters — his better race — and will try to join Usain Bolt as the latest runner to win both Olympic sprints.
For perspective, the blink of an eye takes, on average, .1 second, which was 20 times longer than the gap between first and second in this one.
What was the difference? Maybe Lyles’ closing speed and his lean into the line.
He and Thompson had two of the three slowest bursts from the blocks, and Thompson had what sufficed for a “lead” at the halfway point. The photo finish actually shows Kerley’s orange shoe well in front of the line. But it’s the chest breaking the barrier that counts, and Lyles beat everyone by a sliver.
It would take more than a mere 9.7(84) seconds to decide who would supplant Marcell Jacobs as the next Olympic champion.
Lyles patted Thompson on the shoulder while the wait grew — from 10, to 20, then nearly 30 seconds. When the American learned he’d added this to the 100 meters he won at world championships last year, he pulled off his name tag and raised it to the sky, then brought his hands to his side and pointed at the camera.
“America, I told you I got this!” he yelled into the camera.
Yes, he’s the World’s Fastest Man. Just not by a lot.