Noah Lyles claims U.S. Olympic Trials 100m in close-as-can-be final, sealing Paris spot in the process
Noah Lyles walked into Hayward Field alongside rap sensation Snoop Dogg on Sunday (23 June) evening.
He walked out of it an Olympian for the second time.
The world's reigning "fastest man" will have a chance to prove that world title further on the biggest stage - the Olympic Games Paris 2024. He assured as much in the final of the men's 100m at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - track & field, speeding to a 9.83 victory, which equalled his personal best time, and sending him back to the Games.
It was a close-as-can-be from start to finish, with Kenny Bednarek second at 9.87. Fred Kerley, Tokyo Olympic silver medallist, finished third at 9.88.
2019 world champion Christian Coleman, who had one of the strongest starts in the field, missed out on the team for a second straight Trials, clocking a 9.93 to finish a painful fourth.
Lyles knew at the line he had the win, raising his arms in celebration before making his way around the bend toward the backstretch as the Hayward crowd roared back at him.
"I've always got weaknesses, but they're looking pretty strong right now," a beaming Lyles told the crowd in a post-race interview. "This is everything that I want moving forward. ... We constantly look to the future because anything could happen."
Asked about doing the double for the 200m in the coming days, he said: "I'm ready. That American record is looking vulnerable."
Noah Lyles claims win in front of 'electric' Eugene crowd
Lyles had asked Snoop Dogg, who is part of the NBC commentary team for Paris, to join him in what he's made a staple at his meets recently: The fashion-forward walk-in. The two, dressed to the nines, arrived at Hayward Field in the mid-afternoon, with Snoop carrying Lyles' briefcase.
Inside of it? Lyles' race kit for the night, which he revealed in the semi-finals in the first of two races on the day. Clad in bright red, his (wind-aided) 9.80 was the fastest semi in all, edging out Bednarek at 9.82.
As the final arrived, Lyles was brought out onto the track as the last athlete of the night, a roar ricocheting across Hayward Field. He bounded out in front of his competitors, then took one giant leap up as the starter called, "Take your marks."
It was Coleman who got out strongest, the reigning world indoor champion in the 60m looking to make his Olympic debut having missed the Games due to suspension in 2021. But he'd fade after the 50-metre mark, with Lyles leading the charge past him.
Lyles soaked it all in, he said, from the time he arrived on the track to signing the makeshift Eiffel Tower, which has been set near the finish line at Hayward for the qualified Olympians to autograph.
"It's funny, as we were getting into the blocks, I swore I heard someone yell at the top of their lungs, 'Let's go Noah! Let's go Fred! Let's go Kenny!' Lyles said, laughing. "It was definitely electric. That's what I love to see."
Bednarek, 25, won the 200m silver in Tokyo, but has slowly made inroads on the 100m, much as Lyles has over the last three years.
"I'll finally call myself a 100-metre man now. I always knew I had this in me; it was just a matter of time when I was going to make the team," he told reporters. "Last few years, I was dealing with stuff, but this year I was healthy. And I've always said that a healthy me means a dangerous me. So I've always stepped up to the table and happy to get a PR, but, you know, the sky's the limit. I got a lot left in the tank."
Kerley won the world title in the 100m here in 2022, but has had a stop-start 2024, unable to break the 10-second mark ahead of Trials and splitting with a longtime sponsor earlier this month.
He shook all that off and will look to podium at back-to-back Games in the 100m.
"It's go time," Kerley said, simply. "I mean, the season started today, so we're going up [from here]."