By Caitlyn Meisner | cmeisner@alextimes.com
Noah Lyles, a T.C. Williams High School graduate, clinched the gold medal in the men’s 100-meter race in the Paris Olympics on Sunday. This is the first time he’s competed in this race at the Olympic level and secured his fastest recorded time at 9.79 seconds.
It was a tight race as a group of sprinters crossed the finish line simultaneously and a winner wasn’t decided until 30 seconds after the race. It was a literal photo finish, as photographs were needed to determine that Lyles had edged out his competitors. The time difference between Lyles and the silver medalist, Kishane Thompson of Jamaica, was only five one-thousandths of a second. Fred Kerley, an American from San Antonio, Texas, won the bronze medal with a time of 9.81 seconds.
Since Lyles’ chest crossed the finish line first, he was declared the winner. That is how, in close races like this, the winner is determined. Lyles was the last racer to reach the 40-meter mark, but he quickly picked up speed to become the fastest man in the world.
This race is one for the record books, for both Lyles and the Olympics. This is the first time Lyles has raced in the 100m at the Olympic stage and marks his personal best performance. He’s also the first American to win gold in the event since 2004. It was the closest finish since 1980.
Lyles raced among seven other acclaimed 100m racers, including two others from the United States: Kerley (3rd) and Kenny Bednarek from Tulsa, Okla. He also competed against Akani Simbine of South Africa (4th), Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy (5th, Tokyo Olympics gold medalist), Letsile Tebogo of Botswana (6th), Bednarek (7th) and Oblique Seville of Jamaica (8th).
Lyles has two more races this week: the 200-meter and the 4x100m relay. If Lyles, and his teammates in the relay, capture both, he will secure the triple crown. Lyles is off to a good start in the 200-meter, as he qualified for the final after finishing second – with a time of 20.08 seconds – in his semifinal heat. Heats are racing groups used in the semifinal stage to break up the field of competitors since there are only eight or nine lanes. That earned him a spot in the final race on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. EST
Lyles will also compete in the men’s 4x100m relay on Friday at 1:47 p.m. EST. If he wins all three of these events, he’ll be the first to do it since all-time sprinting great Usain Bolt of Jamaica did so in 2012 and 2016.