The men’s 100m dash in athletics is historically one of the most anticipated and hyped up events at the Olympic Games. What we saw on Sunday in Paris did not disappoint. This was an exceptionally fast field with all eight sprinters running 9.91 seconds or faster.
Photo Finish
At naked eye it looked like Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson won the gold medal. That is why there is an electronic photo finish. After review, it was determined that it was not Thompson that won gold, but American Noah Lyles of Gainesville, Florida. Lyles had a time of 9.784 seconds, while Thompson was second with a time of 9.789 seconds. Lyles had an outstanding final few metres that contributed significantly to him getting on top of the podium.
Was this the closest men’s 100m final ever?
The short answer here is it is difficult to tell. Over the years there have been improvements when it comes to technology in determining the accuracy of times, and as a result sprinters now can be measured to the thousandth of a second.
According to PBS, one 100-mete final that had a very close finish came at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. There, Allan Wells of Great Britain and Silvio Leonard of Cuba were both awarded with times of 10.25 seconds. It was determined Wells was the gold medalist and Leonard was the silver medalist by using a special fully automatic time device.
Who won the bronze in Paris?
A second American reached the podium as Fred Kerley of San Antonio, Texas placed third. Kerley’s time was 9.81 seconds. Kerley was less than three one-hundredths of a second back of Lyles, two one-hundredths of a second back of Thompson, and was one one-hundredth of a second faster than fourth place finisher Akani Simbine of South Africa, who had a time of 9.82 seconds.
Going for the double
Lyles is hoping now to win the gold medal in the men’s 200 metres. He won the bronze medal in the men’s 200 metres at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
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