Men's 100 Meter Finals Were HISTORIC __ Noah Lyles VS. Kishane Thompson - Paris Olympics 2024
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00:00It is finally time for the men's 100m finals in this year's Paris Olympic Games.
00:09There may not be a single more anticipated event in this year's Olympics,
00:14because this race has single-handedly reignited the flames of rivalry
00:19between the United States and Jamaica when it comes to sprints.
00:23In this field, we have the returning world champion in the 100m, Noah Lyles,
00:28who is looking to make history as the first U.S. athlete
00:31to win an Olympic gold medal in this event since 2004.
00:36But before he can mount the podium of Olympic greatness,
00:39he has to outrun Keyshane Thompson from Jamaica,
00:42who currently holds the fastest time in the world this year,
00:45with a clocking of 9.77 seconds.
00:49Hailing from this small island in the Caribbean,
00:52Thompson has absolutely taken the world by storm this season.
00:56He's got a powerful start, he has crazy acceleration,
01:00and from everything that we can see,
01:02his top speed is up there with the absolute fastest athletes in the world.
01:07Thompson is honestly an intimidating runner,
01:09given his powerful frame and incredible speed.
01:12And the only thing that Thompson really does not have right now
01:15is international racing experience on the big stage,
01:18because this is actually his very first global championship.
01:22However, after his breezy first-round win,
01:25where he jogged a time of 10 seconds flat,
01:28people are once again seeing his abilities,
01:30and they are choosing to see him as the favorite.
01:33Now, in our updated poll asking all of you
01:36who will come out on top in this men's 100,
01:39the favoritism still goes to Noah Lyles at 55%,
01:43but this gap has steadily been closing
01:45ever since Thompson ran his first round.
01:48Now, for Noah's first round,
01:50he actually came in second with a time of 10.04,
01:53finishing behind Louis Henschliff of Great Britain.
01:56But for this opening round,
01:58the important thing was to survive and advance,
02:00and that is exactly what Noah did.
02:03Now, the original script for the men's 100
02:05was a battle among Kashane Thompson, Noah Lyles,
02:08and Oblique Seville from Jamaica,
02:10three of the most consistent and speedy athletes in the world this season.
02:13But after the opening round,
02:15the floodgates of speed opened faster than anyone could realize.
02:19In addition to these three looking strong,
02:21we also have many other athletes looking fresh and quick.
02:24There's Kenny Benerik and Fred Curley,
02:26who ran the fastest times in the opening heats,
02:28and they both looked very controlled in their efforts.
02:31We have Emmanuel Aceme from Cameroon,
02:33who looked very strong with a time of 9.98.
02:36And we also have to mention Akane Sembine
02:39and Letsyly Teboho from Botswana,
02:41two African legends
02:43who looked very controlled in their opening rounds.
02:46This opening round showed us that this 100 field
02:49is actually a lot more balanced than we thought,
02:52and it's anyone's guess as to who will make it onto the podium
02:55in this year's Olympic finals.
02:57But the first step to get to the finals
02:59will be three incredibly challenging semifinals.
03:02And as we all expected,
03:04the drama and speed of these semis was absolutely insane.
03:11In the very first round of these semifinals,
03:14the speed of these athletes was unquestionable.
03:17And for heat number one,
03:19Oblique Seville dropped an absolute bomb,
03:22taking first place over Noah Lyles
03:24with a new PR of 9.81 seconds,
03:27defeating Noah Lyles in second,
03:29who achieved a time of 9.83.
03:32These two were flying,
03:34but it's crazy to think that just to automatically qualify,
03:37you had to run a time of 9.83,
03:39which was fast enough to win last year's world championships.
03:42But for this Olympic season,
03:44it was the time just to qualify.
03:46Now, this opening heat was certainly fire,
03:48as two of the favorites made it through into the next round.
03:51But then for heat two,
03:53we saw all of the drama.
03:55And that's because Akane Sambine from South Africa
03:57came away with a huge win in 9.87 seconds.
04:01And he was followed quite closely
04:03by his fellow African, Letsele Toboho,
04:05who qualified in 9.91.
04:07But then just look at this blanket finish
04:10from second to fourth.
04:12This field was separated by just 0.02 seconds
04:15from the second-placed position to fourth,
04:17with Marcel Jacobs in third at 9.92
04:20and Kenny Benerik from the U.S. in fourth at 9.93.
04:24This was potentially problematic for both Jacobs and Benerik,
04:27who didn't qualify automatically,
04:29so they would both have to wait until the final
04:31to see if their times were fast enough.
04:34And this brings us to the third and final heat,
04:36and this might have been the craziest of them all.
04:39Just look at this start list.
04:41There's Kashane Thompson, Fred Curley,
04:43Andre DeGrasse, Zarnel Hughes, Ferdinand Amanyala.
04:46No matter which way you slice this,
04:48there would be numerous big names going home today.
04:51And for this final, well, Kashane Thompson stole the show.
04:55With a pure power sprint,
04:57he won this race with a time of 9.80.
05:00And with a new season's best of 9.84,
05:03Fred Curley finished quite close in second.
05:06Now, finishing behind these two was
05:08Benjamin Richardson in third,
05:10followed by Hakeem Sonnybrown,
05:12and then Andre DeGrasse in 9.98.
05:14And even though many great times were run in this heat,
05:17including five total sub-tens,
05:19Richardson, Sonnybrown, DeGrasse, Hughes and Amanyala
05:22unfortunately did not qualify for the finals.
05:26This brings us to one of the craziest starting lists
05:29I have ever seen.
05:31Just look at this lineup for the men's 100 finals.
05:34We have the two Jamaican speedsters
05:36with the fastest time in the semis.
05:38We have all three of the United States athletes.
05:41We have the two African runners,
05:43Nkane Sambine and Letizia Tiboho.
05:45And we also have the defending Olympic champion,
05:48Marcel Jacobs from Italy.
05:50Every single athlete in this final
05:52has something huge to prove.
05:54Whether it be a title defense,
05:56proving to the world that your world number one ranking
05:58is no fluke,
05:59or just bringing home some hardware
06:01from the Olympic Games.
06:03This final is set to be absolutely unforgettable.
06:06Now, without further ado,
06:08let's head down to the track
06:09to see how this men's 100 final unfolded.
06:18After a fair start,
06:19Noah fell behind almost immediately.
06:22And given what Oblique Seville and Kashane Thompson have done,
06:25this seemed to be over from the gun.
06:27But then, something unbelievable happened.
06:30Noah responded with some of the best acceleration
06:33that I have ever seen,
06:35all the way to the tape.
06:36It was anyone's guess as to who won.
06:39And after the race,
06:40we were still waiting as to who came out on top.
06:43But by four one thousandths of a second,
06:46the winner of this year's Olympic Games
06:48was Noah Lyles,
06:50with a new PR of 9.79,
06:53just barely edging out Kashane Thompson in second.
06:57Now, winning the bronze
06:59was actually Fred Curley in 9.81,
07:02making this one of the fastest 100 meter races to ever go down,
07:06and it was certainly one of the closest 100 finals in Olympic history.
07:10And it's pretty crazy to think
07:11that just to get into the top eight here,
07:14you had to run faster than 9.91.
07:16I'm not sure if this is the record for most athletes under 9.9
07:19in the same race,
07:20but it very well could be.
07:22This was a star-studded 100,
07:24and Noah Lyles proved a lot of people wrong in this race.
07:28Thanks for watching, everyone.
07:29And as always, until next time.
07:32♪
08:02♪