Noah Lyles won gold for the United States in the hotly-anticipated men’s 100m final race at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Last night (4 August), eight male sprinters lined up on the start at the Stade de France track to contest one of the most coveted medals in any Olympic games .
In a dramatic photo finish, US athlete Lyles pipped the Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson to the win by five thousandths of a second.
Thompson appeared to be leading for most of the race, but Lyles came through at the very end, winning with a personal best performance of 9.79 seconds.
Fans took to X/Twitter to react to the dramatic race, in which all eight competitors finished within 0.12 seconds of the gold. The bronze medal was taken by Fred Kerley of the United States.
“Five THOUSANDTHS of a second to decide the Olympic 100m champion!!!” one person wrote.
World Athletics shared an amazing time-lapse image showing just how tight the race was. They wrote: “8 frames, 1 iconic 100m final.”
Someone else referenced Usain Bolt's Olympic record of 9.63 seconds set in 2012, saying: “The more you watch the 100m, the more you'll realise how fast Usain Bolt was running.”
Another wrote: “Noah Lyles making half the NBA hate him with the ‘world champion of what?’ speech, telling every 100m sprinter he'd beat them, underperforming in his heat and semi-final and then actually winning the gold medal is a level of elite trolling we've not seen in some time. What a guy.”
Piers Morgan congratulated the 27-year-old on his win, writing: “Congrats @LylesNoah - you talked the talked and just walked the walk.”
However, not everyone was as happy to see Lyles take the gold.
“Noah Lyles you survived the 100M hate watch. We will reconvene in the 200M,” one person said.
Someone else wrote: “Lyles is an essential villain. This may be the biggest failed hate watch ever.”
In the build-up to the event, Lyles has not been shy about what he wants to achieve, facing accusations of being “cocky” in the process. But, Lyles argues, “people assume my confidence is cockiness”.
Following his historic win, Lyles took to X/Twitter, writing: “I have Asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and Depression.
“But I will tell you that what you have does not define what you can become. Why Not You!”
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