World sprint champion Noah Lyles stormed to Olympic gold with a margin of just five thousandths of a second at the Stade de France.
The American crossed the line in 9.79 seconds, the same time that appeared on the board for Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson .
Both men waited with baited breath as the result was confirmed, with Lyles’ USA team-mate Fred Kerley rounding out the podium in 9.81.
Lyles, who claimed 100m and 200m gold last year in Budapest, thumped his chest at the start line and pumped up the crowd, but alongside Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo got out to the slowest start with a 0.178 reaction time.
He entered these Olympics with the third-fastest time at 100m this year behind Thompson’s world-leading 9.77 and Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala’s 9.79, and as a result found himself in a position of needing to back up his signature bravado on Sunday night.
The 27-year-old rang the victory bell so hard it could probably be heard in Britain.
Thompson qualified fastest of the semi-finalists in 9.80, his compatriot Seville Oblique just behind him in a personal-best 9.81 and Lyles two hundredths of a second behind.
Oblique was the only man who did not have to wait for his place to be confirmed – the last-placed man in 9.91.
Lyles is in Paris with a point to prove, embroiled in a debate before the Games about who was currently fastest man on the planet – not that he ever had any doubts.
On Sunday night, in front of an electric crowd who fell so quiet at the start of the race that it was possible to hear a plane passing overhead, the Floridian emphatically reiterated his answer, this time with his feet instead of his rhetoric.
Earlier, Team GB sprinters Louie Hinchliffe and Zharnel Hughes saw their bid for Olympic 100m gold come to and end in the semi-finals at Stade de France.
Jamaican duo Thompson and Oblique Seville were the fastest men from the semis in 9.80 and 9.81 respectively, with the top two from each heat progressing.
Lyles, the reigning world champion at the distance, was third fastest, two one hundredths of a second behind Seville, while Italy’s defending Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs squeaked through as one of the two quickest remaining finishers.
Sheffield’s Hinchliffe, who handed Lyles a wake-up call when he pipped his US challenger to the finish during Saturday’s heats, was unable to fend off the Floridian a second time, finishing third in 9.97 and faced a wait to see if he was best of the rest.
Hinchliffe said: “It was a good experience, not the result that I wanted. Definitely a lot to learn. I haven’t seen the race back.
“Maybe I should have been more relaxed, I was a bit tense at the end. A lot of mistakes. I should have been more relaxed going into it. I will do something different next time.
“I am disappointed. The time is okay but it’s where I finished in the race. I will come back stronger next year. I will not regress. It’s my first year on the scene. There is a lot more to come.
It was a good experience, not the result that I wanted. Definitely a lot to learn.
Louie Hinchliffe
“Definitely, definitely LA, I will be there (in the final). Next year as well. There are a lot of world championships between then and now. There is a lot of time.
“I haven’t spoken with Carl (Lewis) yet. He won’t be too sad with that. It’s a sub-10 run. I didn’t completely fold.”
Hinchliffe, whose personal best remains 9.95 seconds from his NCAA title-winning turn in June, was one of just three men who ran sub 10 in the heats, but on Sunday even Lyles’ compatriot Kenny Bednarek, who nabbed the last berth in the final, required 9.93 seconds to make it through.
Later that month, Hinchliffe became British champion in the absence of Hughes, the world bronze medallist, who was recovering from a hamstring injury that also saw him skip the European championships.
Hughes, who insisted he was in good form ahead of these Games, was 14th of the semi-finalists and sixth in his heat in 10.01.
He has another chance to try for a first Olympic medal when the men’s 200m heats begin on Monday.
He said said: “I am a better performer than this. Last year we ended with 9.88 on the podium and with a bronze.
“I know what I am capable of. I had to be battling with an injury.
“It kind of sucks, last minute just before the Olympics. But I am a fighter. I am very determined and that’s why I wanted to give it a go. I got the training in but the races is what I needed to get me race sharp.”
Three summers ago in Tokyo, Hughes became the first British man in 21 years to secure a place in an Olympic 100m final but was disqualified for a false start
The Anguilla born 29-year-old earlier this year agreed with nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis’ assessment that he might have won in Tokyo.
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