American Lyles wins 100m gold in photo finish over Jamaica's Thompson

The men's 100m sprint is always considered the marquee event at the Olympics, and it more than lived up to the hype at Paris 2024.

In one of the closest finals in Olympic history, American sprinter Noah Lyles claimed gold with a thrilling photo-finish win.

Lyles posted a time of 9.784 seconds, a virtual dead heat with Jamaica's Kishane Thompson. It required a photo finish, and Lyles was declared the victor by 0.005 seconds, with Thompson settling for the silver.

Following the race but before the results were announced, Lyles told Thompson "Bro, I think you've got that one," according to the Associated Press. "But then my name popped up and I'm like 'Oh my gosh, amazing!" Lyles added

“I thought I had (him) cleared,” Thompson said. “But I wasn’t sure. It was so close.”

American Fred Kerley, the silver medalist in the event at 2020 Tokyo, earned the bronze in a time of 9.81 seconds. Akani Simbine of South Africa just missed the podium, finishing in fourth place 0.01 seconds behind Kerley.

Italy's Marcell Jacobs, the defending Olympic gold medalist, finished in fifth place at 9.85 seconds.

The win marks Lyles's second career Olympic medal after he took bronze in the 200m in Tokyo. The official time of 9.784 seconds marked a personal best for the American.

The finish was the closest in the 100m since at least Moscow 1980. In that race, Britain's Allan Wells just beat out Silvio Leonard of Cuba, but electronic timers didn't go into thousandths of a second in that era, so it's unknown if this year's finish was even closer.

Lyles spent a large chunk of the race trailing and had to chase down Thompson to force the finish. He then had to wait around 30 seconds to actually hear his name called as the winner. Upon the announcement, he ripped off his name bib and held it toward the crowd in celebration.

It's the first time an American has captured gold in the event since Justin Gatlin in 2004. Lyles, the reigning world champion in the 100m and 200m, will look to add to his medal haul in the 200m, which begins in Paris on Monday and is considered his better race.