Kyle Busch made it clear he was rooting for Noah Lyles in Sunday’s 100-meter final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, and the American sprinter did not disappoint.
Lyles posted a personal-best 9.784-second time, outlasting Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by 0.005 seconds to win his first career gold medal. “From one guy who knows speed to another,” the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion gave Lyles a shoutout on X following his dramatic victory at Stade de France.
Lyles, the 27-year-old, Gainesville, Florida, born sprinter, is the first American to win gold in the 100-meter final since Justin Gatlin in 2004. He claimed bronze in the 200-meter final in the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo and will seek to top his performance in that event this coming Wednesday.
While Lyles will soon turn his attention to the 200-meter final, he’s relishing in his run for gold in the 100-meter final, officially becoming the “World’s Fastest Man.” Lyles began leaning into the nickname after his 100 and 200-meter victories at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
“We were waiting for the names to pop up, and I’m going to be honest, I came over [to Thompson] and I was like: ‘I think you got that one, big dawg,’” Lyles said, via Coley Harvey of ESPN. “Something said I need to lean, and I was like, ‘I’m going to lean,’ because it’s that type of race.”
Fellow Americans Fred Kerley and Kenny Bednarek took part in the 100-meter final, Kerley taking bronze. Bednarek, meanwhile, sprinted his way to a seventh-place finish. While the competition will be stiff in the 200-meter final, the confident Lyles isn’t concerned.
He sees a second gold medal in his future.
“[Kerley] is definitely not going to take how he did here in the 100-meter lying down… [But] that man ain’t winning,” Lyles said. “None of them is winning. When I come off the turn, they will be depressed.”
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