Noah Lyles Won Gold By .005 Seconds In the Greatest 100m Olympic Final Ever

Noah Lyles has had an eventful past year, and while he came into the Olympics as the reigning world champion, he was not considered the favorite for the gold medal. That title belonged to Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who had the fastest time in the world this year (9.77) and ran the fastest time in the semifinals (9.80).

In fact, Lyles hadn’t won either of his first two races at the Olympics, coming second in both the preliminary heat and in his semifinal. However, they don’t hand out medals for the heats or semis, and when it came time for the finals, we were treated to perhaps the greatest 100 meter race in history. Thompson came out hot, pushed by American Fred Kerley, but it was Lyles who ran them down on the outside to win gold in a photo finish by an outrageous five thousandths of a second.

Both Lyles and Thompson ran 9.79, but Lyles did it in 9.784, while Thompson was 9.789 — with a reminder the timing is to your torso, not your feet.

While the NBC feed showed limited angles on the live coverage, the BBC feed showed some incredible overhead looks to show how Lyles overcame an early deficit to win gold.

Kerley finished in bronze medal position with a 9.81, while South Africa’s Akani Simbane missed out on a medal by the narrowest of margins, running a 9.82. It was a truly incredible race and the tension only built in the immediate aftermath, as all three medalists stared up at the board waiting for official results to come through, as Thompson thought he had won, thinking Kerley was closest to him not realizing Lyles was on the outside right alongside as well.