Noah Lyles remains - with a bit of luck - number 1 in the sprint. The three-time world champion from Budapest is even aiming for the quadruple in Paris and has cleared the highest of the four hurdles.
05.08.2024, 00:52
05.08.2024, 08:58
SDA
In the end, the man from Florida jumped up and down wildly on the purple track, shouted out his joy and relief, tore the starting number with his name on it off his chest and held it up for all the cameras.
The 27-year-old's show, which in principle had already started at the presentation when Lyles stormed onto the track as if stung by a tarantula ("I wanted to pick up the 70,000 fans and recharge my batteries"), only gradually picked up speed again. In between, there was a wait: the organizers had the sprinters stand in front of the starting blocks for a minute-long light and music show, and after the finish the jury took the necessary time to spot the five thousandths of a second difference.
"I was prepared for Kishane's name to come up," admitted Lyles. However, Kishane Thompson, a complete unknown just over a year ago, lacked the necessary looseness in his very first international competition to keep Lyles at bay in the final meters. The 23-year-old, muscular Jamaican allowed himself to be caught. Unlike Lyles, he would probably have had an even better time than 9.79 seconds in his legs.
"My opponents are ready this year," commented Lyles on the close race. "But I also worked a lot for this victory. I'm now an Olympic champion, I'm no longer just a world champion, I'm the fastest person in the world." He said he was proud to have done it against such fast athletes, in the biggest race in the world, on the biggest stage in the world.
Lyles, originally a 200 m runner, had invested a lot in the 100 m race in recent years. He even competed in the 60 m indoors to get even faster in the first few meters. With success: Lyles ran a personal best in the Stade de France.
Thompson accepted that there can only be one winner: "I don't think we should share the gold medal, the sport is too competitive for that." He will look to the future - and will probably have to continue to congratulate Lyles on his victory, at least in Paris.
Four gold medals in the Stade de France?
The 27-year-old Lyles has long since established himself as one of the faces of athletics, but he still lacked the Olympic consecration because the 2021 Games in Tokyo were a complete failure. In a Covid bubble and a hopelessly empty stadium, miles away from his show talent, caught up in a depressive episode he has known since childhood, he could only win the bronze medal in the 200 m race, in which he was considered the favorite.
In Paris, he now wants to take on a challenge that even Usain Bolt has never faced: Gold in the 100 m, 200 m, 4x100 m and 4x400 m, even though he is not a specialist in this distance.
