World Athletics Championships 2023: Noah Lyles crowned men's 100m world champion at track Worlds
The American wins his first 100m world title after coming from behind, while Letsile Tebogo wins Africa's first 100m medal at the senior World Championships in a photo-finish for silver.
Athletics
Noah Lyles is the new fastest man in the world.
The American track and field star shined at 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on Sunday (20 August), winning the men's 100m final in 9.83 seconds.
It was a come-from-behind victory, with the 26-year-old having trailed behind teammate and early leader Christian Coleman.
However, 2019 world champion Coleman faded in the closing metres, with Lyles, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain, and Jamaica's Oblique Seville all overtaking him.
"I came here for three golds, ticked off one, others are coming," Lyles said. "[The] 100m was the hardest one…. I will have fun with the event I love now (200m).
"Coleman always has the fast start. He had it the whole season, he was even getting better and better. I expected him to do what he does and if he would be the only one in front of me, it would be my race. I needed to make sure that I was accelerating, when I was at the 60m, I took the lead.
"My documentary series will come out soon on the World Athletics YouTube channel. I talked there about doing the individual double. The reason I really wanted to do it is because nobody else deserves it than me."
It was a three-way photo-finish for second, third, and fourth all on 9.88, with Tebogo the first over the line (.873). His silver medal marked the first time Africa had put a man on the senior world 100m podium, and is his third world-level medal at just 20 years old (in addition to titles at under-18 and under-20 levels).
"This medal isn't for me, it's for Botswana, for Africa, because Africa has been short of medals in men's sprints," he said in the mixed zone. "It's really amazing for Africa; we have been thirsting for a medal."
Hughes, who had run the world's fastest time until Lyles equalled the world lead on Saturday, was just one one-thousandth behind Tebogo (.874), with Seville only another three one-thousandths outside the medals (.877).
"All these years, all these years of lessons, tribulations, of patience, I stuck to it," Hughes said. "I had self-belief and trust in speed, my coach, and it's all come together at last in the 100m at a world championships: I am a bronze medallist."
The Anguilla-born Hughes, who trains in Jamaica, also dedicated his medal to that country. "This one is also to the Jamaicans. Even though I'm not running for Jamaica, they allow me to train there, they support me as well. Without their help, I wouldn't have been here."