American sprinter Noah Lyles celebrates after winning the gold medal in in the men’s 100-meters final at the Paris Olympics on Sunday in Saint-Denis, France.
Martin Meissner/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Martin Meissner/AP
NPR is in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics. For more of our coverage from the games head to our latest updates.
SAINT-DENIS, France — In a photo finish, Noah Lyles won the 100-meter race by a hair, to win his first Olympic gold medal for the U.S. and claiming the title of “world’s fastest man.”
Lyles ran 9.79 seconds, a personal best, in the Sunday night competition at Stade de France.
The American got a classically sluggish start but accelerated enough to beat Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, the fastest man this year, who also posted 9.79.
There was a nail-biting wait for the results after Lyles and Thompson both posted the same time. Computers show Lyles leaned forward to cross the line five-thousands of a second faster than Thompson.
Fred Kerley of the U.S. came in third place .02 seconds later to win bronze.
Lyles victory in the 100m is the first U.S. gold in the Olympic event since Justin Gatlin won in 2004.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
