Noah Lyles won the Olympic 100 meters by .005 seconds Sunday, waiting some 30 seconds after the finish of an excruciatingly close sprint to find out he’d beaten Kishane Thompson of Jamaica.
The word “Photo” popped up on the scoreboard after Lyles and Thompson dashed to the line. Lyles paced the track with his hands draped over his head. Finally, the numbers came up. Lyles won in 9.784 seconds to edge out the Jamaican by five-thousandths of a tick of the clock.
America’s Fred Kerley came in third at 9.81 and defending champion Marcell Jacobs finished fifth.
This was the closest 100-meter since at least Moscow in 1980 — or maybe even ever. Back then, Britain’s Allan Wells narrowly beat Silvio Leonard in an era when timing didn’t go down into the thousandths of a second.
Lyles is the first American to win the celebrated race since Justin Gatlin in 2004.
And 9.784 also marks a personal best for Lyles, who has been promising to add his own brand of excitement to track and certainly delivered this time.
He will be a favorite later this week in the 200 meters — his better race — and will try to join Usain Bolt as the latest runner to win both Olympic sprints.
