Noah Lyles wins 100 meters at US trials to clinch Olympic berth

Coley Harvey, ESPN Staff Writer June 23, 2024, 11:12 p.m. ET

Close Previously covered Florida State for Orlando Sentinel and Georgia Tech for Macon Telegraph, Northwestern University graduate

EUGENE, Ore. — To understand how Noah Lyles found himself wearing a gold medal at the U.S. Olympic trials Sunday night, let's go back, he says, to last winter.

Over the course of a month in February and March, he competed in three 60-meter indoor races. He believes they played a key role in helping him qualify for the Olympics for the first time in an event long considered his second best: the 100 meters.

“It was the goal [at trials]: Win 60 yards every time,” Lyles said. “That's why I did so many 60 yards indoors. I braced myself, getting faster and faster each time. »

Lyles became so fast late in Sunday's 100-meter final that when he reached top speed and pulled away from his eight competitors still a few feet from the finish line, he extended his right arm high in the sky before dusk and pointed to the sky in early celebration.

He suddenly realized that after a shaky performance at the last U.S. trials, he was finally going to compete for Olympic gold. His seventh-place finish at the Tokyo Games trials three years ago did not qualify him for the 100 meters; he limited himself to the 200 meters and the 4×100 meters relay.

In Sunday's first-place finish of 9.83 seconds, Lyles crossed just ahead of the two Americans who will join him in Paris in the 100 meters: Kenny Bednarek (9.87 seconds) and Fred Kerley (9.88 seconds). All three are making their second Olympic appearance.

“It’s go time,” said Kerley, a silver medalist in the 100 meters at the Tokyo Games. “Hey, the season started today. So it's just progress.”

Like Lyles, Bednarek has spent this year trying to shed the nickname that he's really just a 200-yard runner. Sunday's silver medal proved he could also handle the shorter sprint.

“Yes, I'm finally going to call myself a 'hundred-yard man' now, but I always knew I had it in me,” Bednarek said. “It was just a matter of time of when I was going to make the team. The last few years I was facing some problems, but this year I was healthy and I always said that a healthy self was a dangerous self.”

At the last Olympics, Bednarek and Lyles finished second and third, respectively, in the 200 meters, lending some credibility to the belief that they were both better at that event than they were in the 100 meters.

Part of Lyles proving he had 100-meter ability meant preparing for trial runs in a different way. This is the goal of all his indoor participations over 60 meters.

“When I got here, I was like, 'I'm one of the fastest in the bunch. I mean, there's only one other guy faster than me in the 60, so I'm going take care of business every time.' ” Lyles said of preparing for his three 100-meter heats this weekend.

“So when I finally got to the final, I was like, 'All right, we're not just going to win on the 60, we're going to keep going.' Let's see what we do from this point on, and every step I took felt right, and I felt good in my positions. We got into the acceleration phase, my hips came through. and I didn't feel like I had to press very hard.

After leading his group in Saturday's preliminaries with a time of 9.92 seconds, Lyles clocked a wind-aided 9.80 seconds in the semifinals. Then, in the final, he matched his personal best, set at last summer's world championships.

“I would say as of this week I'm pretty confident [in the 100]”, Lyles said. “Every time I did a block start, I didn't think much. It was just a bit of doing. It was much closer to what I felt in the 200m, which is something I've been waiting to feel for a very long time now. And every time I get that feeling, it makes the race even more confident.”

That growing confidence is part of what led Lyles to celebrate his big win a little prematurely. As he prepares for the 200-meter preliminaries on Thursday, he reflects on those pre-finish actions.

“I told myself I wasn’t going to slow down at the end, but I definitely slowed down just to celebrate,” Lyles said. “So next time I run, no celebrations.”

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