Paris 2024 Olympics day nine: Noah Lyles dips to men’s 100m gold for USA – as it happened

Otherwise, thanks all for your company – join us again in a few hours.

Though we’re all still savouring today, we also get to tantalise ourselves with thoughts of tomorrow. We’ll be bringing you all of it, naturellement, including Simone Biles on the beam and on the floor – she goes at 11.38am 1.23pm. Otherwise, there’s the usual smörgåsbord of mixed relay triathlon, athletics heats and repechages, wrestling, canoeing, badminton and so on. Oh, and cycling, then a load of athletics including the women’s 5000m and 800m finals, Keely Hodgkinson the hot favourite to win the latter, the start of the men’s 200m, the semis of the women’s, France v Egypt in the men’s football semis, and lots, lots more. Good.

It’s been an absolutely absurd day of sport.

Winning Olympic gold when you lived half your life not thinking you’d ever even compete must be a pretty decent buzz.

This is what it’s all about.

Unfortunately, there’s also bad news.

I’ve just watched the race again, and in the maelstrom of the moment, missed Kishane Thompson’s desperation as we awaited the verdict. “C’mon, man!” he was hollering into the crowd, perhaps where his team are, and I hope none of us ever experience whatever he must’ve experienced – it feels too profound to simply be called a feeling – in those moments. There’s a look in his eyes.

Earlier today, I had the ridiculous honour of attending the Akwasidae Festival, so I missed this race. But everything i’ve heard about it tells me I’ll need to take a look-in at my earliest possible inconvenience.

Olyslagers will have to start winning a few, but if she can, she and Mahuchikh have the time to build one of the great rivalries.

My wife has just come home, which means I soon get to watch this race again with someone who’s not seen it. I’ll take it.

I think this is the other race that stands out as one I remember watching and not knowing who’d won it.

Some US woe in the 3×3:

“Say this for Noah Lyles,” also says Beau. “He has elevated the sport in the USA. His flamboyance certainly put a target on his back. People are always waiting with knives out when a US athlete appears arrogant. But he’s doing it for the good of the sport and for the causes in which he believes.”

As per the below, agree with every word. No sportsperson is obliged to save the world, but how can you not love those who do – especially in the context.

Beau Dure

If we can try to move on for a moment, here’s some sage, brutal candour from Adam Peaty.

I find Jess Ennis saying “Noah has never ever doubted himself,” and she should know. I find his blather entertaining and endearing, but belying anxiety – the grin with which he follows it is what I’d do if I was trying to convince myself as much as anyone else. Now, though, he’ll feel differently every single day for the rest of his life. He’s the Olympic 100m champion, a sporting icon, and a sound bloke. Most of the rest of us would happily settle for one out of three.

I’ll try and find the right place again, but in the meantime, here’s Sean Ingle’s race report.

He had to take every round as it was, he says, when asked if he was concerned after his earlier performances. He was upset after the first round, feeling aggresssion … and then my page crashes.

“You couldn’t have asked for a bigger moment,” he says. “I’ve a biomechanist who comes down and before I came out here, he says ‘it’s gonna be by this much,’” showing a small gap with his thumb and forefinger. “That’s how close it’s gonna be.”

Here’s the new Olympic men’s 100m champ!

Lyles, of course, has the 200m to come and you couldn’t back against him now; you’d have struggled before tonight, never mind now he’s the confidence to know his clarity of thought and speed over the stretch can be relied upon. But spare a thought for Kishane Thompson, who ran 80 perfect metres before the enormity of the situation hit. He’ll come again, but tonight he’ll be feeling very poorly; proud too, especially once he’s taken a moment, but goodness me.

“I had him around 50% to win (and Kerley around 10%), but the semis left me doubting,” returns Beau. “NBC’s crew went dead silent. I think they thought Lyles had taken silver. Or bronze. The result was announced in the stadium long before the commentators said anything.”

Terrified of getting it wrong would be my guess. I’m still feeling it even now.

We’ve not yet heard from the man of the quadrennial, but I’m buzzing for when we do. Lyles said earlier he’d become a bit of celebrated figure in the village – good luck finding somewhere to chill now.

I’ve become kind of popular in the village,” he said. ‘Unfortunately, that has come with its own set of challenges, being able to find my own space within the village whether that’s eating or training in the gym.

Some athletes like to leave the village and find their own hotels, but I like to enjoy the whole Olympic event being with other athletes and stuff like that. But it has come with its own challenges of finding my own safe place.’

‘I’m not even the most popular person in the village so I know I’m not the only one who’s had to deal with situations like this. Even though we might be superstars in your eyes, we still are human beings and we do want to be able to have our space and our time. I want to be able to enjoy the Olympics just like you guys are.’

I’m not sure the last time I watched a race and wasn’t sure who’d won it afterwards. Our runners were left there for what seemed an epoch and was probably 20 seconds, no one knowing who was Olympic champ. The nausea the contenders must’ve felt in that moment; I didn’t even know that kind of thing existed.

More detail on the times: Lyles won in 9.784, while Thompson clocked 9.789. Not even a blue Rizla between them.

I said it was close, and Lyles isn’t the only relieved boy tonight: never has a person been so relieved not to have hit “send”.

OK, that isn’t true, but you get my drift – I think what happened is the camera angle made it look like Thompson was home, because once Lyles passed him, the race was over.

Places fourth to eighth were all made in world-record time, rrrridiculous.

1. Noah Lyles (USA) 9.79

2. Kishane Thompson (Jamaica) 9.79

3. Fred Kerley (USA) 9.81

4. Akani Simbine (RSA) 9.82

5. Marcell Jacobs (Italy) 9. 85

6. Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) 9,86

7. Kenny Bednarek (USA) 9.88

8. Oblique Seville (Jamaica) 9.91

My colleague Beau Dure emails to say he thought Lyles was going to lose too, and I just cannot believe he’s done it. I really couldn’t see a way – he seemed nervous to me, he ran like he was nervous in the first round and looked less good than Seville in the semi. But he ran, if not a perfect race, a perfect 50m and as Thompson, less experienced at this level, tightened up – it’s absolutely mad how a race that lasted 9.79s feels like Ben Hur – Lyles cruised through. I could cry for a year.

Oh man, Lyles is in the crowd with his mum. “I’m so proud of you,” she tells him shaking her head, but if there’s one thing we know from seeing her on the telly, she was so proud of him already – and rightly so. To be able to think your way through a race in the way he did is a special, special thing, and the way he loosens in the final 40 is a product of all the love, joy and grit he’s ever felt and experienced.

The race, then. Thompson is away well and Seville closes, Sambini in between them, but Lyles, outside them, focuses on maintaining form and he’s getting stronger as he crosses the line, somehow retrieving a ridiculous gap, Carl Lewis-srtyle, taking Olympic gold by five thousandths of a second! Yes, you read that right! An expletive phenomenal race, one I still don’t really understand, but Noah Lyles is the champ and the fastest man alive!

We’ll do the race in a second, but look at Noah Lyles! We had a good 30 seconds when we hadn’t a clue what’d happened but now Lyles is running towards the crowd, arm aloft, and I’m do happy for Keisha Cane, his mum, who anyone who’s watched Sprint will know is an absolute powerhouse of a titan. Mazal tov to all!