Noah Lyles captures Olympic gold in 100-meters in wild come-from-behind photo finish

Noah Lyles is the World’s Fastest Man.

And it took him only 9.784 seconds — and a photo-finish lean at the wire — to prove it.

Storming back from a poor start, which found him seventh halfway through the race, Lyles was first to the tape in the men’s 100 meter final on Sunday at Stade de France.

Lyles finished just 0.005 seconds ahead of Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson in a race that required video replay.

His victory put America back atop the global sprinting stage for the first time in decades.

The flamboyant Lyles has confidence that borders on hubris.

And in the biggest game of all — the Paris Olympic Games — Lyles talked the talk, and walked the walk.

Or more accurately, ran it.

“To be honest, I just believe in myself,” Lyles said, according to FloTrack. “I’ve done worse and I’ve run faster 60s. Ah, dang. Dang, I’m amazing. That’s crazy. That’s crazy. I thought I was a little better than that. But that goes to prove that reaction times do not win races.”

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No, legs do. And heart.

Lyles is the first American man to win 100 gold since Brooklyn-born Justin Gatlin in 2004.

After a video replay confirmed his title, he ran into the stands to hug his mother Keisha Caine Bishop, a former runner herself at Seton Hall.

American Fred Kerley took bronze at 9.81.

Thompson came in with the best time in the world this year (9.77) and in qualifying (9.80).

And after Lyles failed to win in his heat or his semifinal — losing the latter to Jamaican Oblique Seville, who ran the second-fastest semi at 9.81 — gold seemed destined to go to Team USA’s biggest sprint rival.

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But Lyles outran destiny on Sunday. And a huge deficit of his own making.

“I knew once the year started that this was not 2021,” said Lyles. “I knew every step of the way it was not 2021. Winning U.S. Championships, going to Jamaica, getting beat by Oblique and I ran [9.]85 and I’m still constantly moving forward and moving forward.

“I knew that when the time came for me to be able to say, ‘This is the final. This is what I have to put together.’ I was going to do it.”

And Lyles did it, despite a reaction time that was tied for slowest in the entire field at 0.178 seconds with Letsile Tebogo.

But his top speed of 27 mph couldn’t be matched. Or survived.

Kerley, in Lane 2, was out of the blocks first at 0.108.

Running just seventh through 50 meters, Lyles chased down the entire field.

With Seville out quickly to his left, Lyles kept his poise, and that unwavering confidence born from three wins at last year’s World Championships.

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Thompson led in the middle stages, but had never been in a global final.

Lyles had the better finish, his momentum carrying him past Kerley and then Thompson, who finished in 9.789.

When the verdict was announced, Lyles — after telling Thompson he thought the Jamaican won — ripped the bib off the front of his uniform, held the name ‘Lyles’ up to the crowd to a roar.

The entire field finished absurdly close.

Bednarek was seventh in 9.88 — less than a tenth of a second behind Lyles — a time that would’ve earned a podium finish in Rio or Tokyo. Seville was dead last in 9.91.

This was the closest finish in the 100 since at least Moscow in 1980 — and perhaps ever.

In Moscow, Britain’s Allan Wells nipped Silvio Leonard, but electric timers couldn’t measure thousandths of a second.

Lyles will also run the 200, his strongest event, and the 4×100 relay.

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