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Coley Harvey, ESPN Workers Author
SAINT-DENIS, France — Since final August, Noah Lyles has stood agency and unequivocal in his perception that the title of “world’s quickest man” belongs to him.
Sunday night time on the Stade de France, he proved it.
With a personal-best 9.784-second time that edged him previous a world-class subject stuffed with elite sprinters, Lyles walked away along with his first Olympic gold medal within the 100-meter remaining.
He earned the victory by beating the person with the world’s quickest time this yr, Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, by .005 seconds.
It was the closest 100-meter remaining since at the very least Moscow in 1980 — or perhaps even ever. Again then, Britain’s Allan Wells narrowly beat Silvio Leonard in an period when timing did not go all the way down to the thousandths of a second.
Lyles is the primary American to win the celebrated race since Justin Gatlin in 2004.
If Lyles makes the 200-meter finals Wednesday night time, he’ll have a possibility to assert a second gold medal.
Lyles’ solely different Olympic medal is a bronze, which he earned within the 200 on the Tokyo Video games three years in the past.
Sunday’s 100-meter remaining included the defending Olympic 100-meter gold medalist, Marcell Jacobs of Italy; Thompson, the Jamaican who entered with the world’s quickest time this yr (9.77); and two of Lyles’ American teammates, Kenny Bednarek and Fred Kerley.
Kerley got here in third, incomes bronze in 9.81 seconds. Bednarek completed seventh, with a time of 9.88 seconds.
In the course of the semifinal spherical an hour and a half earlier, Group Jamaica appeared to place the remainder of the runners on discover. Thompson’s 9.80 semifinal dash was the quickest of the spherical. Simply behind him in a personal-record 9.81 seconds, was fellow Jamaican Indirect Seville, who ran in a separate warmth that included Lyles.
Seville had historical past with Lyles, having confronted him within the Bahamas in June. Seville gained it, sneaking simply previous Lyles in 9.82 seconds. Lyles completed 0.01 seconds later.
It was after Lyles gained the 100-meter world championship in Budapest, Hungary, final August when he started leaning into the “world’s quickest man” nickname.
“Everyone is aware of that the title goes to the Olympic champion, and the world champion,” Lyles mentioned final week. “Which, I’m certainly one of … and shortly to be one other certainly one of.”
These prophetic phrases had been proper.
The Related Press contributed to this story.
