Lyles narrowly beats Thompson in nail-biting 100m final in Paris

American Noah Lyles added the Olympic 100m title to his World 100m crown won last year in Budapest with a narrow victory over Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson and American Fred Kerley in the final of the men’s 100m at the Stade de France in Paris on Sunday.

Thompson, the Jamaican national champion and current world leader in the event, looked set to claim his maiden Olympic gold medal at about the 85m mark before Lyles used his trademark fast finish to just out-dip him in the end.

Both Lyles and Thompson ended with identical times of 9.79 but Lyles won by five thousandths of a second when the times were rounded down. Lyles’ time was 9.784 compared to Thompson’s 9.789.

Fred Kerley, the 2022 World champion, ran 9.81 for bronze.

South Africa’s Akani Simbine narrowly missed out on a medal running 9.82 in fourth while defending champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy was fifth in 9.85.

Letsile Tebogo (9.86), Kenneth Bednarek (9.88) and Oblique Seville (9.91) rounded out the field. (SportsMax)