Noah Lyles wrote the check with his mouth. At the Olympics his feet deserved it

SAINT-DENIS, France – Noah Lyles again had trouble getting out of the blocks. His reaction time was the worst in the eight-man field. A slow start cost him in the first round and then again in the semi-finals.

That felt like a recipe for disaster with this great field, one of the most charged in Olympic history. The Jamaicans Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville had crazy times. The American Fred Kerley was on his game. Even defending champion Lamont Marcel Jacobs from Italy was in good form.

Seeing Lyles in fifth place 20 yards felt like doom.

“It just goes to show,” Lyles said, “races aren’t won with starts.”

But a bad start could have been coincidental. Because for all his boasting, Lyles is, at heart, an ultimate competitor. He may seem arrogant and showy, a recipe that usually only contains a teaspoon of content. But Lyles is a dawg in the strongest sense of the word. His heart is at least as big as his mouth.

It was unveiled on Sunday evening, during an Olympic final of the 100 meters for all ages.

Trailing the world-class burners and coming off back-to-back losses, Lyles had to give his absolute best. The slow start produced his greatest asset. Lyles’ refusal to lose turned this charged final into a historic one.

It is the fastest he has ever run: 9.79 seconds. Technically it was 9,784. He is America’s first gold medalist in the 100 meters in twenty years. After winning the World Championships in 2023 and now an Olympic Championship in 2024, he is the undisputed fastest man in the world.

Thompson took silver with a 9.789. Kerley, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics, added bronze to his resume with a personal best of 9.81. Five of the six best times were personal bests, a season record or a national record. Sevilla ran a 9.91 and finished last. Just a ridiculous octet of sprinters.

But Lyles said the moment is never too big for him, it’s made for him. They don’t get any bigger than what happened at the Stade de France on Sunday. On the biggest stage of his life, with the whole world watching, in a chill-inducing location, Lyles made the moment his own.

His mouth wrote the check. His feet cashed in.

“I want my own shoe,” says Lyles, a longtime Adidas sponsor. “I want my own trainer. …I want a sneaker. There is no money in spikes. The money is in sneakers.”

Lyles’s boast is not empty. His calculated theatrics and hunger for attention may make him seem a little less respectful. His arrogance leads some to oppose him.

But you don’t do what he did unless you have courage.

Phase one of Lyles’ grand plan for immortality is complete. With the 100 meters under his belt, he will now start the 200 meters on Monday.

Carl Lewis was the last American to do what Lyles is trying to do: win gold in the 100 and 200 meters at the same Olympics. Lewis did it in 1984 in Los Angeles. Michael Johnson was the last American to achieve a sprint double. He won the 200 and 400 meters in Atlanta in 1996.

The hardest thing for Lyles was winning the gold in the 100 meters. The 200 is his main event. He is the best in the world at that, and has been throughout the entire Olympic cycle.

“Pretty confident. I can’t lie,” Lyles said. “Kenny set a fast time during tests. That definitely woke me up. I was very proud of him. He certainly won’t take it lying down to see how he did here in the 100. He’ll say, ‘I’m going to go after it in the 200.’ It’s my job to make sure that…”

Lyles paused. Then he showed his smile.

“I’ll just leave it at that.”

Kerley, who had been largely silent throughout the press conference, clearly there out of bronze obligation, perked up and agreed.

“Just say that…,” Kerley said to Lyles.

“That guy ain’t winning,” Lyles agreed. “None of them win. When I come off the turn they will be depressed.”

What always takes precedence over small talk is supporting it. Overconfidence is easier to swallow when it is justified.

The best chance to silence Lyles was in the 100. Lyles finished seventh in the 100-meter final at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials and failed to qualify for the Tokyo Games in the 100.

SEVENTH.

He and coach Lance Brauman went to work turning him into an elite short-distance sprinter.

NOAH LYLES IS THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE 🇺🇸

By four-thousandths of a second, Lyles managed to beat Kishane Thompson to win the gold by a whisker.

He is the first American man in twenty years to win the event.

🎥 @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/sKMer9mPOh

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 4, 2024

That’s the overlooked part of all this. What Lyles has done to become a world-class sprinter in the premier discipline is a testament to his immense talent and drive. He entered a new realm, which had his great talents, and decided to take them on.

He did so loudly, with a certainty that disdained those in power. Three years later, he sits alone on the throne vacated by Usain Bolt. He said he wanted to do it. He predicted he would do it. Then he did it. The DC area kid pulled a Marlo and took over another lot.

That’s why Lyles started jumping and screaming when he walked through the mixed zone and saw Brauman. This night he had to run again, through the maze of ropes, around a barrier and into the room full of media. So he was able to celebrate with the coach who helped him make it happen.

The Netflix cameras are capturing everything for season 2 of the docuseries ‘Sprint’.

At first Lyles thought he had not won. It really looked like Thompson beat him. Lyles said he was willing to swallow his pride and eat the loss to a worthy opponent.

Immediately after the race, which was so close that it took technology to determine it, Lyles went to Thompson and told him, “I think you have this one big dog.”

In his first two races of these Olympics, Lyles was unable to recover from a slow start. In the first heat of the 100 meters on Saturday he fell behind and could not overtake Great Britain’s Louie Hinchliffe. He said he underestimated the field, which he wouldn’t do again.

On Saturday he shared a heat with Sevilla in the semi-finals. This wasn’t just any heat. Those two have history.

Oblique Seville may sound like an old-fashioned Cadillac, but it’s no slouch. And after finishing fourth against Lyles at the 2023 World Championships, the 23-year-old Jamaican went from strength to strength.

He defeated Lyles in June at the Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica. Sevilla not only ran a 9.82, but he also gave Lyles a look in the process.

Lyles, of course responded to X: “I will remember this. See you in Paris.”

On Sunday they faced each other in the semi-finals.

Sevilla got off to a much better start and seemed to be comfortably ahead. But Lyles – after his hiccup in the first round and because of his rivalry with the Jamaicans – recovered much better. This time Lyles chased the leader. He looked ready for a fight.

A composite image of the men’s 100 meters. (Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

Despite a slow start, he ran a 9.83. Yet he did not overtake Sevilla, who ran a personal best of 9.81.

So when Lyles did it a third time and slowly came out of the blocks, the packed crowd had every reason to believe he would lose. About twenty meters further he did not get further than fifth place.

But Lyles has talked a lot about transcending the sport and taking the track to a new level. He talks about wanting more spirited competition with his cohorts. More nonsense talk. More varieties. More of the best facing each other. This is essentially what he wanted.

He would have to fight for this. So Lyles switched gears. The equipment that the greats have. He didn’t make this race about technique. Or the purest form. Or the most talent. It was about the will. It was about the time-honored tradition that running races are the measure of a man.

He caught the leaders. They pushed him. He pushed them. Finally there was a finish, a moment that will be remembered for generations.

When the results came back, even Lyles was stunned.

“Everyone in the field came out knowing they could win this race. I didn’t do this against a slow field. I did this against the best of the best, on the biggest stage, with the biggest pressure. And when I saw my name I was like, ‘Oh my god! There it is!”

The difference turned out to be a perfectly timed lean from Lyles. By 0.005 seconds his chest crossed the line in front of Thompson. Lyles won because of his heart.

Required reading

(Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)