Noah Lyles won the people’s 100 m at the 2024 Olympics in a photo end, beating Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by .005 hours. A victory in the event that leaves one with the distinction of the “fastest man in the world” does n’t matter that Lyles was only 0.03 seconds away from winning.
Since Lyles was now anointing himself with the magnificent prior to winning, it’s a good thing he won that race. ” What’s up, Team USA? Noah Lyles is the world’s fastest person, Lyles claimed in a video released by Team USA on social media following the ceremony’s opening service. ( In fairness, he won the 100 and 200 meters at the 2023 World Athletic Championships last summer. )
That expression also comes with marketing advantages. In the five times since Lyles won, he has gained about 500,000 Instagram fans. After the race, he revealed to the media that he wanted an Adidas-branded foot.

But here’s the point: Lyles did n’t really work the fastest 100 m at the Olympics. That was Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, champion of the people’s 200 feet on Thursday. During that last, Tebogo ran the span from the 30-meter level to the 130-meter tag in only 8.92 seconds, way under Lyles ‘ 100-meter ultimate time of 9.79 seconds, and faster than Lyles ‘ fastest 100-meter stretch of the 200-meter race, which clocked in at 8.99 seconds.
In truth, every skater in that celebration posted a faster 100-meter sector than Lyles did in his whole 100-meter last, and seven of the eight ran their final 100 meters in less than 9.79 seconds. Yet the people’s 400-meter last featured no fewer than five athletes who, at some point, covered the length of 100 feet in less time than Lyles’s famous jump.
Team USA’s Gabby Thomas, who won gold in the women’s 200 feet, almost caught Lyles as also, running the 30-meter to 130-meter portion of her 200-meter last in 9.98 hours.
This, of course, is because runners in the 100 m start stable, and even the fastest in the world need a few steps to getting up to full speed. In the 100-meter occurrence, the stop is extremely crucial. The men’s final’s fastest and slowest response times to the gun were merely 0.12 seconds off, and the race’s winning and eighth-place times were just 0.12 seconds apart. Coming out of the stones fast was half the battle, at least.
Unfortunately, though, Lyles had the worst launch of anyone in the 100-meter last industry. His response time of 0.178 hours was tied for the slowest, and he was 0.04 hours behind seventh-place after only 10 feet. He may have lost because of that poor beginning if his abdomen bend at the end had not been there.
What if, when considering response time, push-out of-the-blocks, and rapid motion, there was a competition to determine the best athlete who can jump the fastest true 100 meters and not the fastest 100 meters?
Taking this train of thought even further, why 100 meters at all? The title of “world’s fastest man” is determined by an arbitrary number. No one has ever completed the 60-meter sprint in the traditional indoor track event, and Lyles, who crossed the finish line in 5.03 seconds, did so. Lyles traversed one 10-meter stretch in just 0.82 seconds, matching Usain Bolt’s fastest 10-meter split at the 2008 Olympics.
Who actually recorded the fastest speed throughout the race, exactly? Noah Lyles, at more than 27 miles per hour.
So maybe Lyles is the world’s fastest man. Everything depends on your definition of “fastest.”
U. S. sport climbing Olympian Sam Watson, who set the speed climbing world record at 4.74 seconds in Paris, has his own definition. ” Obviously, Noah is an incredible athlete”, Watson told The Athletic. ” But, I’m faster”.