Noah Lyles has said when people see the race, they know something special is about to happen and he didn't disappoint in the men's 100 m finals with *** photo finish. It's *** personal best for Lyles in 9.72 seconds in *** race that came down to 5000 th of *** second. His teammate Fred Curly wins bronze, his second Olympic medal in the 100 m. Lyles is the first American man to win gold in the 100 m since Justin Gatlin at the 2004 Athens games. Everybody thought that this was going to be *** slow year for the 100 but here we are proving that it wasn't. This race came down to 5, 1/1000 of *** second. I mean, that's maddening how small that is. How much of that is the energy of this crowd. I feel like it definitely got in tune with the energy. But at the end of the day, we all train for these moments like this and you can't take it away from nobody. I think it's hard being the world's this man will try being his mom. We talked to her just minutes before her son raced. I told him that he was born for such *** time as this, this moment was created for him. I told him to have fun that we love you, but he already knows that and just go out there and do what you do next up. It's the men's 200 m prelims that's coming up Monday night, Paris time at the Paris Olympics. I'm Deirdre Fitzpatrick.
Lyles makes Olympic 200-meter final despite finishing second in semifinal qualifying race
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Updated: 2:13 PM CDT Aug 7, 2024
Noah Lyles will race for his second Olympic gold medal despite finishing second Wednesday in the 200-meter semifinal, his first loss at that distance in three years. Letsile Tebogo of Botswana finished the heat in 19.96 seconds, beating Lyles by .12 and marking the first time the American has lost a 200 of any kind since he finished third at the Tokyo Games.It opened up a 24-hour period to debate and discuss the meaning of the second-place finish, which still earned Lyles an automatic qualifying spot in Thursday night's final but could have him running the curve from a less-than-ideal lane.Last weekend, Lyles notably lost both his opening heat and the semifinal round of the 100, before coming back to eke out a .005-second victory over Jamaica's Kishane Thompson in the final. That win came about 90 minutes after another Jamaican, Oblique Seville, beat him in the semifinal for that sprint.Lyles, normally a regular in the interview room with reporters, even after early rounds, skipped it this time and team officials said he had headed to the medical tent. Asked if Lyles was OK, his coach, Lance Brauman, told The Associated Press: “He's fine.”Some things to consider:—Was Tebogo, a world bronze medalist with the third-best time of 2024, trying to send a message, and if so, did he burn too much energy trying to make his point? He finished in 19.96 for the only sub-20 run of the night.—Was Lyles taking it easy, even after conceding he had been a bit unprepared for the challenges he would face in the early rounds after opening the Games with a second-place finish in the 100 meters?—Or might this fuel Lyles, who does not take kindly to being messed with in his favorite race?Video above: Noah Lyles' mom shares her Olympic journey as her son makes historyAmong those waiting for him in the final will be Kenny Bednarek, the American who came within .06 of Lyles earlier this summer at Olympic trials. Also, Erryion Knighton, the 20-year-old American who was long seen as Lyles' next, big threat but whose only victories over Lyles came in the opening rounds of the 2021 Olympic trials.The defending champion, Andre De Grasse of Canada, finished third in his heat and did not advance.
SAINT-DENIS, France — Noah Lyles will race for his second Olympic gold medal despite finishing second Wednesday in the 200-meter semifinal, his first loss at that distance in three years.
Letsile Tebogo of Botswana finished the heat in 19.96 seconds, beating Lyles by .12 and marking the first time the American has lost a 200 of any kind since he finished third at the Tokyo Games.
It opened up a 24-hour period to debate and discuss the meaning of the second-place finish, which still earned Lyles an automatic qualifying spot in Thursday night's final but could have him running the curve from a less-than-ideal lane.
Last weekend, Lyles notably lost both his opening heat and the semifinal round of the 100, before coming back to eke out a .005-second victory over Jamaica's Kishane Thompson in the final. That win came about 90 minutes after another Jamaican, Oblique Seville, beat him in the semifinal for that sprint.
Lyles, normally a regular in the interview room with reporters, even after early rounds, skipped it this time and team officials said he had headed to the medical tent. Asked if Lyles was OK, his coach, Lance Brauman, told The Associated Press: “He's fine.”
Some things to consider:
—Was Tebogo, a world bronze medalist with the third-best time of 2024, trying to send a message, and if so, did he burn too much energy trying to make his point? He finished in 19.96 for the only sub-20 run of the night.
—Was Lyles taking it easy, even after conceding he had been a bit unprepared for the challenges he would face in the early rounds after opening the Games with a second-place finish in the 100 meters?
—Or might this fuel Lyles, who does not take kindly to being messed with in his favorite race?
Video above: Noah Lyles' mom shares her Olympic journey as her son makes history
Among those waiting for him in the final will be Kenny Bednarek, the American who came within .06 of Lyles earlier this summer at Olympic trials. Also, Erryion Knighton, the 20-year-old American who was long seen as Lyles' next, big threat but whose only victories over Lyles came in the opening rounds of the 2021 Olympic trials.
The defending champion, Andre De Grasse of Canada, finished third in his heat and did not advance.
