Noah Lyles of the United States finished the men’s 100-meter race in 9.81 seconds at Saturday’s World Athletics Diamond League event in London, achieving a new personal best.
The meeting in London was the Diamond League’s penultimate competition before the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The men’s 100-meter event was the day’s final race, and all five of the best sprinters broke 10 seconds.
Lyles beat South African Akani Simbine (9.86 seconds), Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (9.88 seconds), and his own personal best of 9.83 seconds, which he established at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August 2023.
“That was fun,” Lyes replied. “I could have had a better start, but the transitions were great and coming away with a PB, this has been what I prayed for and what I wanted.”
Lyles’ time of 9.81 seconds ranks third in the world this year, after only Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson (9.77 seconds) and Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala (9.79 seconds). Lyles won the bronze medal in the men’s 200-meter final three years ago in the Tokyo Summer Olympics, which were delayed because to the pandemic. This time in Paris, he’s pursuing a larger aim.
“I’m going to win,” he announced. “That’s what I always do.”
Gabby Thomas, Lyles’ compatriot, won the women’s 200-meter gold on Saturday, clocking 21.82 seconds, 0.04 second faster than Julien Alfred of St. Lucia, who
Keely Hodgkinson of the United Kingdom won the women’s 800-meter race in 1:54.61. She was joined on the podium by two compatriots, Jemma Reekie (1:55.61) and Georgia Bell (1:56.28). Only Hodgkinson and Reekie had previously gone under 1:56 in the event this year.
