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By Chloe Mayer
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New data has revealed exactly how American sprinter Noah Lyles was able to snatch victory by the narrowest of margins after a dramatic photo-finish at the Olympics on Sunday.
The 27-year-old athlete's gold-winning performance in the 100m race was even more remarkable given his poor start, which saw him trailing in last place before he managed to recover and storm ahead at the Stade de France.
But the finish line was so closely contested that the runners faced an agonizing wait as officials scrutinized footage of the final seconds, and Lyles himself told Kishane Thompson, 23, that he believed the Jamaican had won. He was wrong; Lyles had taken gold by just five thousandths of a second.
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Lyles is known for his relatively weak starts, and his gold-winning race was no exception. In fact, the American's start was the joint slowest; he shared a 0.178 reaction time with Botswana's Letsile Tebogo. When told that statistic after the race by a journalist, Lyles said: "Slowest reaction time—that's crazy! I thought I was a little better than that but that goes to prove that reaction time does not win races."
The slow start looked as if it had destroyed his chances, and he was still trailing in last place some 40 meters in.
But expert analysis of the race reveals how Lyles managed to pick up speed as the finish line approached.
Two-time Olympian Ashton Eaton, a mechanical engineer who won gold twice in the decathlon but now works in research and development at Nike, shared a string of data on the race. Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Eaton revealed how researchers were able to work out the runners' exact speeds using the precise location of cameras filming the race and time-stamped footage.
The analysis revealed that Lyles was in third place after 60m, but—crucially—he was now running his fastest at 43.5 km/h (27.02 mph). At that point, Thompson was in first place, but was running at 43.1 km/h (26.7 mph).
Lyles' top speed during the race was higher than any other runner (43.6 km/h or 27.09 mph), which allowed him to reach the front of the pack alongside Thompson, whose own top speed was 43.3 km/h (26.9 mph).
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The two men stood together as they anxiously watched the screen immediately after the end of the race. "Come on man!" Thompson roared with impatience as he waited for the big screen to display the official results. Lyles told Thompson at one point: "I think you've got the Olympics, big dog."
However, the images showed that although Thompson's foot had hit the line first, Lyles' torso was marginally ahead—and that's what counts.
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Lyles' winning time was 9.784 seconds, while Thompson had clocked 9.789 seconds (a difference of just 0.005 seconds). The bronze medal was taken by another American, Fred Kerley, who finished in 9.81 seconds.
After the results were announced, a stunned but delighted Lyles took off for a run around the track clutching the Stars and Stripes. Speaking to reporters afterward, he said of Thompson: "He was in lane four, I was in lane seven, so I couldn't really see what was happening. I continued to run like I would win it. Something told me: 'I need to lean.' It is that type of race. It was crazy." He added: "I am going around as the Olympic champion; I have that title as the world's fastest man. This has been years in the making."
Thompson was magnanimous in accepting second place and insisted the gold should not be shared, despite the closeness of the race was and given he was actually the first person to touch the finish line.
"I think the sport is too competitive, no offense to any other sport," he said. "It's too competitive for us to share a gold medal."
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