American sprinter Noah Lyles won the Olympic gold medal in the 100-metre sprint in a photo finish, taking the title of the world’s fastest man on the earth in front of a mesmerised crowd at the Stade de France on Monday.

In the deepest men’s 100m race of all time, the six-time world gold medallist dipped to victory in a PB of 9.79, pipping Jamaica’s world leader Kishane Thompson by just five-thousandths of a second.

USA’s 2022 world champion and Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Fred Kerley bagged bronze, clocking 9.81 – 0.01 ahead of Akani Simbine in a South African record. There were best marks-for-place for Simbine in fourth, as well as Italy’s defending champion Marcell Jacobs in fifth (9.85), Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in sixth (9.86 NR), USA’s Kenny Bednarek in seventh (9.88) and Jamaica’s Oblique Seville (9.91) in eighth.

In fact, it was the first time that eight men had finished sub-10 in the same wind-legal race and 0.12 is the smallest ever gap between first and eighth in Olympic or world men’s 100m final.

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His rivals might have been ahead for much of the race, but Lyles didn’t let them stay there. In his trademark style, he chased them down and then drew equal, crossing the line in a finish too close to call from the eye. In contrast, 23-year-old Thompson had powered ahead but he tightened up at the finish and was caught narrowly by Lyles.

Lyles, 27, has surged into the best in the world in the 100 metres after already establishing himself as the best at the 200 meters. Lyles has said his goal was to win double gold and the 100 metres was the hardest of those two. He won both 100 and 200 at the world championships in 2023.

The USA athlete is also likely to compete in the 4×100 meter relay on August 9 as he tries to complete a sweep of three gold medals as he did in Budapest at the world championships.