In-race analytics show how incredible Noah Lyles’ gold medal-winning 100-meter final run was

American sprinter Noah Lyles edged out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by 0.005 seconds in Sunday’s 100-meter final to win his first career gold medal.

It was the closest 1-2 finish in the 100-meter since at least Moscow back in 1980, and the in-race analytics show how even more astonishing Lyles’ victory was. Lyles, who got off to a slow start, was in last place after 30 meters and did not lead at any point until the final steps. That’s when it most mattered, of course, as Lyles leaned his body forward and beat out Thompson by the slimmest of margins.

Olympic 100m race analysis.

Noah Lyles was last at 30 meters and did not lead at any point until the final steps. But he was leading when it counted. pic.twitter.com/w8e8qDUeWm

— Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) August 4, 2024

For context, a blink of the eye on average takes .1 second. That is 20 times longer than the gap between Lyles and Thompson at the finish line. And if it weren’t for that lean, Lyles likely wouldn’t be celebrating a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Lyles even admitted he thought Thompson had won the race.

“We were waiting for the names to pop up, and I’m going to be honest, I came over [to Thompson] and I was like: ‘I think you got that one, big dawg,’” Lyles said, via Coley Harvey of ESPN. “Something said I need to lean, and I was like, ‘I’m going to lean,’ because it’s that type of race.”

Noah Lyles turns attention to 200M final

Lyles will soon turn his attention to Thursday’s 200-meter final, now officially holding the title as the “World’s Fastest Man.” Lyles began leaning into the nickname after his 100 and 200-meter victories at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Fellow Americans Fred Kerley and Kenny Bednarek took part in the 100-meter final, Kerley taking bronze. Bednarek, meanwhile, sprinted his way to a seventh-place finish. While the competition will be stiff in the 200-meter final, the confident Lyles isn’t concerned.

He sees a second gold medal in his future. Lyles is looking to become the 10th sprinter and first American since Carl Lewis in 1984 to claim gold in the 100-meter-200-meter double in a single Olympics.

“[Kerley] is definitely not going to take how he did here in the 100-meter lying down… [But] that man ain’t winning,” Lyles said. “None of them is winning. When I come off the turn, they will be depressed.”