2024 Olympic Men’s 100m: Noah Lyles v Kishane Thompson Reignites Jamaica-US Rivalry

Sixteen years in the past, because the Olympic 12 months of 2008 dawned, america regarded poised to say the boys’s 100-meter gold medal that summer season in Beijing. The US had the world’s premier sprinter, Tyson Homosexual, who had simply received the 100, 200, and 4×100 triple on the World Championships a 12 months earlier than. He was destined to change into one in all the stars of the 2008 Olympics.

Then in Might, a younger Jamaican who had by no means run the 100 meters at a worldwide championship started ripping off quick instances. Homosexual loved a robust 2008 season, even setting a private finest within the leadup to the Olympics, nevertheless it was to not be his 12 months. Homosexual developed a hamstring harm earlier than the Olympics and was not near 100% in Beijing. It could not have mattered, although. The younger Jamaican seized the Olympic stage for his personal and wouldn’t give it again. Usain Bolt had arrived.

4 Olympic cycles later, may historical past repeat itself?

In 2024, the US as soon as once more has a bona fide dash star coming off the 100/200/4×100 triple at Worlds in Noah Lyles. And the similarities between Lyles and Homosexual go a lot deeper than that. Like Homosexual in 2008, Lyles went on to win this 12 months’s Olympic Trials. Like Homosexual, he has run a 100m private finest within the leadup to the Video games. They even have the identical coach (Lance Brauman), agent (Mark Wetmore), and sponsor (adidas).

And, simply as in 2008, there’s a Jamaican phenom who could possibly be poised to steal the present on the Olympics. Kishane Thompson, 23, will not be Bolt — nobody is — however he has loved a equally meteoric rise within the 100 meters. Two years in the past, Thompson had a private better of 10.21 and had by no means raced exterior of Jamaica. Now he’s the world chief at 9.77 — faster than Lyles has ever run — with the potential to go even sooner in Paris.

The US used to personal males’s 100 on the Olympics, successful 16 of the primary 25 gold medals on supply. However since Justin Gatlin‘s gold in 2004, the People have been shut out, with Bolt successful in 2008, 2012, and 2016, and American-born Italian Marcell Jacobs taking the win three years in the past in Tokyo. Can Lyles finish the drought? Will Thompson earn Jamaica’s first gold since Bolt? Or will somebody completely totally different emerge, as Jacobs did in 2021?

Let’s dig into the race earlier than a champion is topped on August 4.

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Lyles enters the Olympics within the type of his life

Lyles ran a private better of 9.83 to win the world title in Budapest final 12 months and since then, the 27-year-old has solely gotten sooner. Lyles’ finest attribute as a sprinter is his top-end pace and his capability to carry it on the finish of races. That’s the reason he’s primarily unbeatable within the 200 meters — an occasion he has not misplaced since 2021 and one through which he has received the final three world titles.

However as a sprinter, you can’t have all of it. Athletes with the perfect top-end pace are hardly ever the perfect starters as properly. Lyles has spent his total profession engaged on his begin, and whereas he’s nonetheless not an incredible starter, he has improved his begin to a degree few anticipated he would ever attain. This 12 months, Lyles ran a private better of 6.43 within the 60 meters indoors and beat Christian Coleman — the 60m world document holder and one of many biggest starters in historical past — to win the US title. Coleman bought his revenge by successful the world indoor title, however Lyles’ silver medal at that meet was additional proof of the progress he has made.

LRC The Begin: How Vital Is Noah Lyles’ Begin to His Possibilities of Success within the 100 Meters?

Outdoor, Lyles was crushed on June 3 in Kingston, operating 9.85 to the 9.82 by 2023 Worlds 4th placer Indirect Seville of Jamaica. However Lyles rebounded from that defeat on the US Olympic Trials, tying his pb to win the 100 and repeating as Trials champ within the 200. In his ultimate meet earlier than the Olympics, he ran a private better of 9.81 seconds in London on July 20.

He has accomplished all this whereas heaping strain upon himself. Lyles wasn’t simply one of many stars of SPRINT, the Netflix documentary sequence that dropped earlier this month; he additionally labored with NBC to provide a separate doc about his 2023 season (and that was earlier than he knew he was going to win triple gold). On the Olympic Trials, he raced with Yu-Gi-Oh! playing cards tucked into his singlet and deliberate elaborate stadium walk-ins accompanied by Snoop Dogg and a silver briefcase.

Lyles is aware of he’s portray a good larger goal on his again, and his tendency to talk his thoughts meant he got here throughout as a quasi-villain in SPRINT. To his critics, all these pre-race antics really feel pressured, not genuine. However Lyles additionally has loads of followers. He is aware of his time on the prime of the game is restricted, and whereas he’s right here, he’s going to do issues his means.

“Normally I don’t really feel strain as a result of I’m simply having enjoyable,” Lyles mentioned after successful the Olympic Trials. “All I gotta do is be me. I consistently inform youngsters on a regular basis, ‘Be your self,’ and if folks see me as being corny, shoot, I’m corny. Guess what? I’m successful whereas being corny.”

Thompson enters the image

For those who’ve been taking note of Jamaican sprinting the final couple of years, possibly you suspected Kishane Thompson was able to what he has been doing in 2024. However in the event you’re an informal monitor fan, Thompson has been simple to overlook. He has by no means run at a Worlds or Olympics, and for the primary six months of this 12 months, he was largely invisible.

Thompson’s coach, Stephen Francis of the famed MVP Observe Membership in Kingston, says that’s as a result of Thompson has not been capable of keep wholesome.

“He has had a steady shin downside during the last three years the place he couldn’t [train],” Francis advised Tv Jamaica in June. “If he begins to coach, he does one rep of no matter, two reps, and he’s accomplished. He can’t do anymore.”

That was why Francis imposed a rule final 12 months that Thompson wouldn’t run multiple spherical at any competitors. Even when Thompson ran the quickest time within the preliminaries of the 2023 Jamaican championships — 9.91, an enormous enchancment on his private better of 10.18 — Thompson didn’t compete within the semis, giving up his shot to qualify for Worlds. He improved to 9.85 later within the season in Xiamen, then completed 4th on the Diamond League ultimate in 9.87, simply .04 off the win.

However the shin points endured and Thompson added harm to harm by tearing his quad in January. As he rehabbed the quad, nonetheless, Francis mentioned they had been lastly capable of finding an answer for Thompson’s shin woes. Francis has been imprecise in Jamaican media interviews in regards to the actual nature of this “answer” however he mentioned it has enabled Thompson to finish his full coaching program for the primary time.

“We noticed one thing made by an Australian firm,” Francis advised Tv Jamaica. “And that firm didn’t ship to the US or wherever else so we needed to discover a method to get to Australia to get this factor. And it labored. So he has been freed from ache in his shin.”

That doesn’t imply accidents are not a priority. Thompson solely raced as soon as previous to the Jamaican trials in late June, and he solely managed 50 meters of sprinting in that one earlier than pulling up lame.

However when Thompson has completed races this 12 months, he has regarded unimaginable. He ran a private better of 9.82 within the first spherical of the Jamaican trials, then ran 9.84 within the semis and 9.77 within the ultimate — the quickest time by anybody in additional than two years. Then Thompson headed to Europe and crushed reigning Worlds silver medalist Letsile Tebogo by operating 9.91 right into a headwind in Hungary on July 9.

What’s scary is how Thompson has run these instances. It’s nearly as if, now that he’s wholesome, Thompson doesn’t know what to do with all of that further pace. He advised the Jamaica Gleaner that when he tried to close issues right down to preserve power within the first two rounds on the Jamaican trials, he nearly fell as a result of he isn’t used to operating rounds.

Earlier than the trials ultimate, Francis advised Thompson to solely race the primary 60 meters and shut it down as soon as he was assured of a top-three end. Thompson raced extra than simply the primary 60, however he additionally ran his 9.77 regardless of staring on the clock for the ultimate 20 meters:

His 9.91 in Hungary regarded preposterously simple, Thompson toying with a prime area by wanting left and proper properly earlier than the end line:

Thompson has steadily been in comparison with former world document holder Asafa Powell. Along with having the identical coach, each are tall and powerfully-built — significantly, Thompson is yoked. And Thompson’s pb of 9.77 is precisely the identical as Powell’s was on the similar age. However Thompson might be hoping the 2 males are totally different in terms of championship efficiency: regardless of an extended, prolific profession, Powell by no means received a person gold at a worldwide championship.

Breaking down Lyles v. Thompson

USA vs Jamaica is the rivalry that’s alleged to outline the sprints. However during the last 15 years, that rivalry has normally been strongly tilted in a single path or the opposite. When Bolt was round, Bolt (and thus Jamaica) dominated, exterior of his ultimate 12 months in 2017. And since then, the US has largely owned the 100, successful the world title in 2019, 2022, and 2023 with zero Jamaican medals in that span. Now, lastly, it appears to be like as if each international locations are sturdy on the similar time.

Who you want between Thompson and Lyles says lots about what you worth. Thompson has the upper ceiling. He’s 4 years youthful, he has a sooner private finest, and his races this 12 months counsel he might have extra within the tank in Paris. However he’s additionally extra injury-prone (Lyles by no means will get damage) and has by no means confronted something near the strain of an Olympic Video games. In the meantime, Paris might be Lyles’ fifth world championship.

“Kishane Thompson has not been below the microscope of Olympic favourite,” NBC dash analyst Ato Boldon mentioned on this week’s LetsRun.com Observe Discuss Podcast. “That’s the very first thing. Two, everyone knows rounds are the nice equalizer. Noah has the medals that he does due to how properly he runs rounds.”

Lyles is a safer wager to run properly within the ultimate. However generally it takes an incredible race to win gold, not only a good one. If Thompson goes 9.75 in Paris, can Lyles attain that degree?

With the correct wind, he simply may. In response to Jonas Mureika‘s dash conversion calculator, which strips out the impact of wind and altitude, Lyles’ 9.81 on the London Diamond League is probably the most spectacular efficiency of 2024.

Quickest wind-adjusted performances of 2024

Athlete
Meet
Location
Date
Time
Wind
Adjusted time

Noah Lyles
Diamond League
London
July 20
9.81
-0.3
9.79

Kishane Thompson
Jamaican trials (ultimate)
Kingston
June 28
9.77
0.9
9.81

Akani Simbine
Diamond League
London
July 20
9.86
-0.3
9.84

Noah Lyles
US trials
Eugene
June 23
9.83
0.4
9.85

Indirect Seville
Jamaican trials (semis)
Kingston
June 28
9.83
0.4
9.85

Indirect Seville
Racers GP
Kingston
June 1
9.82
0.9
9.86

Indirect Seville
Jamaican trials (ultimate)
Kingston
June 28
9.82
0.9
9.86

Letsile Tebogo
Diamond League
London
July 20
9.88
-0.3
9.86

Kishane Thompson
Gyulai Memorial
Székesfehérvár
July 9
9.91
-0.6
9.87

Kishane Thompson
Jamaican trials (prelims)
Kingston
June 27
9.82
1.0
9.87

Kishane Thompson
Jamaican trials (semis)
Kingston
June 28
9.84
0.6
9.87

Whoever wins gold in Paris, they’re almost certainly going to have to boost their sport to do it. You’d have to return to Maurice Greene in 2000 to seek out the final time somebody received the Olympic 100m gold with out operating a season’s finest within the ultimate.

Who else may win?

It’s tempting to label the boys’s 100 as a two-horse race, however Lyles and Thompson aren’t the one guys who may win. Listed below are 5 extra names to observe in Paris:

Indirect Seville, Jamaica, 23 years previous (9.82 pb): Seville has completed 4th on the final two World Championships. Doubters have a look at that as proof that he can’t win the large one. Believers level to the truth that Seville was simply 21 and 22 years previous throughout these races. Seville can be the one man to defeat Lyles in a 100 in 2024 — although Seville himself was crushed by Thompson on the Jamaican champs.
Kenny Bednarek, USA, 25 years previous (9.87 pb): Recognized extra as a 200 runner (2021 Olympic/2022 World silver), Bednarek ran a 9.87 pb to complete 2nd on the US trials and ran Lyles very shut earlier within the season in Gainesville, dropping by thousandths.
Fred Kerley, USA, 29 years previous (9.76 pb): Kerley has the quickest pb of anybody in Paris and a few severe championship {hardware}: Olympic silver in 2021, Worlds gold in 2022. However he didn’t make the Worlds ultimate final 12 months, and he’s endured a tumultuous season, strolling away from his huge Asics contract simply weeks earlier than the Olympic Trials in order that he may race in numerous spikes. Kerley scraped his means onto the group however hasn’t but regarded just like the man who received these medals in ’21 and 22.
Marcell Jacobs, Italy, 29 years previous (9.80 pb): Jacobs shocked the world by successful Olympic gold in Tokyo three years in the past however has battled persistent accidents since then. Although he received the World Indoor 60 title in 2022, he didn’t make the World outside ultimate in ’22 or ’23 and hasn’t damaged 9.90 since Tokyo. That mentioned, there are causes for optimism. He received the European championships in June (10.02 received Euros imagine it or not) and he then ran 9.92 ten days later — his quickest time because the 2021 Olympic ultimate (and sooner than his 9.94 sb heading into Tokyo three years in the past).
Letsile Tebogo, Botswana, 21 years previous (9.88 pb): Tebogo, a Botswana flag bearer, was the silver medalist at Worlds final 12 months at age 20 however has endured a tough 2024 season after the dying of his mom in Might. He did tie his private finest in his final race earlier than the Olympics in London on July 20, although.