PARIS: The world stopped, as did the 80,000 at the Stade de France. Even Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson - fighting for the crown of the fastest man on the earth - didn’t know. The race had lasted less than 10 seconds, and those minutes of wait that followed felt like an eternity. Till the scoreboard flashed - Noah Lyles.
Trailing through the race from start to finish and only leading at the finish line, the man from the United States was the king of 100m. He had edged Jamaican Thompson by five thousandths of a second in a race where eight of the participants ran sub-10. Even world champion and Tokyo silver medallist Fred Kerley, who took the bronze in 9.81s, was barely 0.01s ahead of Akani Simbine, who finished fourth.
