Noah Lyles was officially deemed the fastest man alive after narrowly taking the gold medal in the 100-meter dash at the Paris Olympics, which had to be decided in a photo finish to determine that he officially won the first gold medal of his career.
The race finished nearly as quickly as it began as the runners looked up to the big screen for word on who would return to their home country with a gold medal.
Judges quickly determined after the race that Lyles beat Kishane Thompson to the finish line by only five-thousandths of a second. Lyles finished the race with a final time of 9.784 seconds, while Thompson clocked in at 9.789 seconds.
Team USA’s Fred Kerley claimed third place in this race after he finished with a time of 9.81 seconds, trailing Lyles’ gold medal-winning time by just 0.026 seconds.
Lyles got off to a slow start after tying with Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo for the slowest reaction time off the starting blocks. This resulted in him being in last place through the first 40 meters of the race.
However, Lyles quickly got toward the front of the pack and found himself in third place with just 20 meters remaining, sticking out his torso in an attempt to get ahead of the competition.
Finally, the racers crossed the finish line but had no idea who would actually be deemed the winner, prompting Lyles to walk toward Thompson and tell him, “I think you got the Olympics dog,” per the Associated Press.
Almost immediately after learning that he had won the race, Lyles snagged his name tag off the front of his body and held it up to the crowd, saying, “America, I told you I got this!”
After the race, Lyles detailed an experience he had with one of his trainers before he left for Paris, explaining that his trainer warned him that this race was going to be much closer than many would have expected.
“He said, ‘This is how close first and second are going to be,’” exclaimed Lyles while holding two fingers together to emphasize how close the race was, according to AP. “I can’t believe how right he was.”
Lyles became the first American to win gold in the 100-meter dash since Justin Gatlin in the 2004 Athens Olympics, though he will now set his sights on becoming the first Olympian to win both the 100 and 200-meter dash since Usain Bolt in the 2008 Beijing Games, as reported by Sports Illustrated.
Although it has yet to be determined who will take part in the 200-meter gold medal race, Lyles is a heavy favorite to once again win the gold medal when this race takes place on Thursday.
