US sprint king Noah Lyles powered to gold by just five thousands of a second Sunday in the closest 100m in modern Olympic history, as Novak Djokovic added a tennis gold medal to his glittering CV. A thrilling ninth day of Olympic action also saw two world records tumble in the Paris pool, the first-ever gymnastics gold for an African nation and the Refugee Team's first medal in history. But as darkness fell, all eyes were trained on the lilac track of the Stade de France, where Lyles, 27, was bidding to end two decades of Olympic sprinting hurt for the US.
It was billed as one of the most open 100m finals ever and it did not disappoint, Lyles dipping to gold in 9.79sec, just three hundredths of a second separating the first four.
"I'm the wolf amongst wolves," said the outspoken Lyles, who see himself as the rightful sprinting heir to the legendary Usain Bolt.
"It's the one I wanted," said Lyles. "It's the hard battle, it's the amazing opponents."
The American had failed to impress in his heat or semi-final, winning neither after sluggish starts.
But in the final he burst out of the blocks quicker and muscled through the field, pushing Jamaica's Kishane Thompson and US rival Fred Kerley into silver and bronze by the tightest of margins.
The shock 100m winner in Tokyo, Italy's Marcell Jacobs, came fifth despite registering a season's best 9.85sec.
No US athlete had won the 100m since Justin Gatlin at the 2004 Athens Games and the Americans were still smarting after Julien Alfred from tiny St.Lucia beat hot favourite Sha'Carri Richardson in the women's 100m final on Saturday.
'Biggest sporting success'
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tennis
athletics
triathlon
sprint
Olympics 2024
Olympics
FIVE
Marcell Jacobs
Fred Kerley
Noah Lyles
Julien Alfred