The Fastest Man in the World: Noah Lyles Wins Men’s 100-Meter Gold in Paris

SAINT-DENIS, France – Noah Lyles is the fastest man in the world. 

One step changes history – a step on the moon, a step on a continent, or a step across a finish line in first place for the first time in 20 years. One step is all the time that Lyles led the men’s 100-meter Olympic final on Sunday night, but one step was all he needed. 

His gold-medal finish is the first by an American in the 100m dash since the Olympic Games Athens 2004, when Justin Gatlin won it in 9.85 seconds. Gatlin’s time would have tied for fifth in this year’s race. It’s the first time in history that seven men crossed the line in under 9.90 seconds in a wind legal race, shattering the famed 10-second barrier. Lyles ran it in 9.784 seconds, beating Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by five-thousandths of a second.

Lyles exploded into a packed scene in Paris’ Stade de France. He met a raucous crowd charged with an in-arena light show, and with his own reserve of spring-loaded energy combusting, beckoned them to feed the atmosphere with more. Then he ran a race whose excitement paralleled the crescendo of the crowd. 

He had the slowest reaction to the gun and occupied last place, eighth, through the first 40 meters. He moved into seventh at 50 meters, passing U.S. teammate Kenneth Bednarek, and jumped to third by 60m, hunting down Thompson, who was the world’s fastest man entering the race and would remain so for just 30 more meters.

By the last 10m, Lyles and Thompson were dipping – leaning into the finish alongside five other sprinters. A seven-way photo finish was the result. The athletes would have to wait for the official results.

Lyles walked over to Thompson to congratulate him. 

“After the race I came up, we were waiting for the names to pop up,” Lyles said. “And I’ll be honest, I came over, I was like, ‘I think you got that one big dog.’”

But then the results appeared, one-by-one they were displayed on the screen with Lyles earning gold, Thompson silver, and Team USA’s Fred Kerley bronze. Lyles’ top finish in the 100-meter dash is the 27-year-old’s first Olympic medal in the event.

“My name popped up and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m amazing,’” Lyles said. “I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t ready to see it.”

Lyles, winner of the 100- and 200-meter race in the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, is reinventing himself as a sprinter. After proving his dominance in the 200m, Lyles seeks to master the 100m. 

His conquest of the 100m on Sunday keeps Lyles’ goal of winning three Olympic golds alive. He’s slated to compete in the 200m, a race he’s not lost in two full seasons (since the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020), on Monday. After that he’ll contribute to the USA’s 4×100 meter relay, and – if he could put himself in the event – the 4×400 meter relay.