Team USA’s Noah Lyles clinched gold in the men’s 100-meter final at the Paris Olympics, winning by a margin of just five thousandths of a second.
Lyles, with a time of 9.784 seconds, edged out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who clocked 9.789 seconds, and fellow American Fred Kerley, who finished in 9.81 seconds.
The finish was so tight that commentators nearly declared the wrong winner before the photo finish confirmed that Lyles had crossed the line first. The crucial factor was the torso, as Olympic rules state that the first athlete whose torso reaches the closest edge of the finish line is declared the winner. This means that despite some viewers noting that other athletes’ shoes crossed the line before Lyles’s torso, his upper body was the first to reach the decisive point.
In the immediate aftermath, athletes anxiously awaited the photo finish before Lyles began his celebratory run around the track.
Lyles, 27, is set to compete in the men’s 200-meter race on Monday. He previously won bronze in this event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a time of 19.74 seconds.
