American sprinter Noah Lyles won gold in the 100-meter dash at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Lyles clocked a 9.79, edging out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by five-thousandths of a second. Fellow American Fred Kerley clocked in at 9.81 to claim the bronze medal.
NOAH LYLES’ OLYMPIC DREAM COMES TRUE!
100M GOLD MEDALIST. #ParisOlympicspic.twitter.com/qR6bkXLHhE— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
Lyles is the first American male to win the event since Justin Gatlin did so at the 2004 Games. According to data from World Athletics, Lyles was in seventh place through 50 meters of the race and never led until the final step. Seven runners finished in under 9.90 seconds, making Sunday's race one of the fastest in recorded history.
DraftKings gave Lyles (+320) an outside chance of winning. Before the race, Jamaica’s Thompson (-150) and Oblique Seville (+275) had better odds. Seville, who finished eighth in the 100-meter final, had bested Lyles to take first during their qualifying heat earlier in the day. The two stared each other down as they crossed the finish line, continuing their rivalry.
Oblique Seville staring down Noah Lyles 😅pic.twitter.com/7sBGLu3fNU
— Pickswise (@Pickswise) August 4, 2024
Oh yah… I’ll remember this!
— Noah Lyles, OLY (@LylesNoah) June 2, 2024
See you in Paris @ObliqueSevillepic.twitter.com/cvOt5gktPG
Lyles is now positioned to pull off the rare feat of winning both the 100- and 200-meter races in the same Olympics. Jamaican legend Usain Bolt most recently accomplished this at the 2016 Olympics, while Carl Lewis was the last American to do so in 1984. Lyles is scheduled to participate in a qualifier heat in the 200-meter dash on Monday.
