The men's 100 metres event at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place on 3 August and 4 August at the Stade de France in Paris. Noah Lyles won the gold medal, setting a new personal best in the 100m and giving the United States its first victory in the event since 2004. Jamaican Kishane Thompson finished in second, taking the silver medal. The winning time of 9.79 was achieved by both Lyles and Thompson, but Lyles crossed the line five one thousandths of a second faster to take gold. Lyles' teammate Fred Kerley finished third in 9.81, winning bronze.
This was the thirtieth time that the men's 100 metres was contested at the Summer Olympics. Interestingly the final contained 6 men who had recorded top-25 all-time records in the 100m, making this final one of the most tightly contested in history, as the difference between the fastest man in the field Fred Kerley (9.76) and the slowest Kenny Bednarek (9.87) was only 0.11 seconds. For the first time in 100m history, the final was contested by 8 men who had all ran under 10 seconds in the semi-finals. In fact, 12 of the 27 semi-finalists all ran under 10 seconds, with the gap between 8th-placed semi-finalist Kenny Bednarek and 12th-placed Andre De Grasse being just 0.05 seconds.
Noah Lyles came through in 1st place, 0.005 seconds ahead of 2nd-placed Kishane Thompson, marking possibly one of the closest 1–2 finishes in Olympic 100-metre history.[2] Both recorded times of 9.79; however, Lyles' time was 9.784, while Thompson's time was 9.789. Lyles had a slow start out of the blocks and, up until the 85-meter mark, was out of medal contention. Thompson was ahead for the entire race until the final inches of the race, where Lyles ran through.
During the final, Kishane Thompson was in lane 4 as the fastest qualifier with a time of 9.80 (he was also the fastest man in the world, this year). Lanes 6 and 7 contained Oblique Seville and Noah Lyles, respectively. These two men had competed in one of the semi-final heats, with Seville besting Lyles with a time of 9.81 to Lyles' 9.83. Fred Kerley, who won silver at the 2020 Summer Olympics was in lane 3 as the 4th fastest qualifier with a time of 9.84.
Places 5 to 8 ran the fastest times in history for those respective places. The time gap between 1st and 8th was only 0.12 seconds, which is the closest and overall fastest 100m race in history, and the first time in history that the entire field broke the 10-second barrier in a competitive race.[3]
Simbine's time of 9.82 was also the fastest time in history for any man who didn't finish either 1st/2nd in a final or didn't win their semi-final race. Noticeably absent in the final was Ferdinand Omanyala who had set the 2nd fastest time of 2024 just 6 weeks prior in June
Lyles' win was the first American gold medal in the 100m race since Justin Gatlin won in 2004. Lyles also set a seasons best and personal best with his winning time. The race was so close, Leigh Diffey calling the race for American NBC Sports declared Jamaican Kishane Thompson the winner, missing the American Noah Lyles.[4][5]
The top 6 all ran times that would have guaranteed a gold, silver or bronze in every single Olympic 100m race prior (except for 2012). In fact, 6th-placed Letsile Tebogo's time of 9.86 would have won silver in each 100m Olympics apart from 2012 and 2020.
The men's 100 metres has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. The 100 metres is considered one of the blue ribbon events of the Olympics and is among the highest profile competitions at the games. It is the most prestigious 100 metres race at an elite level and is the shortest sprinting competition at the Olympics – a position it has held at every edition except for a brief period between 1900 and 1904, when a men's 60 metres was contested. The 2024 season started off slowly, literally. The top time in the world in April was 9.93 by 17 year old American high school runner Christian Miller, while elite races like the Diamond League were being won in times slower than 10 seconds. In June the times suddenly got fast. Season leaders were Kishane Thompson with 9.77, Ferdinand Omanyala 9.79, reigning World Champion Noah Lyles 9.80 and Oblique Seville 9.82. The podium from three years earlier all returned, defending champion Marcell Jacobs, Fred Kerley and Andre De Grasse.
For the men's 100 metres event, the qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.[9] 48 athletes were able to qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by running the entry standard of 10.00 seconds or faster or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event.[9] Additionally, universality places were given to NOCs that hadn't qualified athletes in any other event.
The preliminary round was held on 3 August, starting at 10:35 (UTC+2) in the morning.[1] 56 athletes qualified to enter the event. A further 16 athletes were given a universality quota, and one invitation place was given to the Olympic Refugee Team. Unlike other events from 200 metres to 400 metres, no 'repechage' round was included in the 100 metres. Instead, a preliminary round for athletes with slower qualification times preceded the first round.
Qualification Rules: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the best 4 of remaining athletes (q) advance to Round 1.
On 11 August 2024, Mulamba was issued with a provisional suspension (due to an Adverse Analytical Finding) and was disqualified from the Men’s 100m according to Anti-doping Rule 10.1.
[15]
^Poole, Harry (5 August 2024). "How Lyles' torso decided greatest Olympics 100m final". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 6 August 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2024. All eight men finished within 0.12secs of the gold medal, with last-placed Jamaican Oblique Seville crossing the line in 9.91 - a time good enough for fourth at the Tokyo Games. And it meant, for the first time, that eight men had run under 10 seconds in a wind-legal race - making it the fastest race in history. [...] The finishing times for Akani Simbine, Lamont Marcell Jacobs, Tebogo, Kenny Bednarek and Seville were all records for fourth to eighth-place finishers in a 100m race.
Usain Bolt (JAM)
Ferdinand Omanyala (KEN)
Su Bingtian (CHN)
Marcell Jacobs (ITA)
Patrick Johnson (AUS)
Felipe Bardi (BRA)
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