Noah Lyles dismissed claims that Kishane Thompson's inexperience cost him Olympic gold, instead pointing to a critical tactical error that gave him the edge.
Noah Lyles has gone down memory lane on the Paris Olympic Games, when he won the 100m title and analysed why Kishane Thompson lost the race.
The triple world champion clocked 9.79 seconds, five thousandths of a second ahead of Kishane Thompson. Fred Kerley rounded up the podium in the race.
Kishane Thompson admitted that inexperience cost him a win in the race, but Noah Lyles believes there was more to that, and in this article, Pulse Sports Kenya breaks down the three-time world 200m champion’s thoughts concerning the Olympic 100m final.
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Noah Lyles on why Kishane Thompson lost the men’s 100m at the Paris Olympics
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Noah Lyles insisted that Kishane Thompson’s inexperience never made it easy for him to win the 100m, but it was another mistake that he capitalised on to claim the win.
Noah Lyles’ lean saved the day in the Olympic final, and people were quick to jump to Kishane Thompson’s defence, noting that it was his first major championship and he might not have known how to lean.
However, Noah Lyles has refuted those claims, revealing that Kishane Thompson, Fred Kerley and the other sprinters caused their own downfall.
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Noah Lyles revealed that their reaction time out of the blocks forced them to use a lot of energy, and once they got to the final stages of the race, they were already experiencing burnout.
“No, I don't think it is. I think he and Fred, I think almost everybody's thing that cost them the race was trying to be more than they needed to be,” Noah Lyles said in an interview with Run Blog Run.
“Everybody in the first 10 meters made drastic jumps in their time to reach the 10-meter mark, but because you expended that energy there, you lost it at the end.
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“That's my understanding after looking at all the data, when they simply could have done what they normally did and then showed that superhuman ability at the very end.”
What Noah Lyles did differently
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The two-time Olympic 200m bronze medallist revealed that he wanted to take the race just like any other competition and keep calm.
Noah Lyles revealed that throughout the race, he kept his cool and did not want to try new things that would disadvantage him.
“Again, it was that kind of mindset of I have to be more than I am. Why do you have to be more than you are if you've already trained for this moment?” Noah Lyles said.
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“The thing that I just constantly would tell myself throughout the year is I don't need to be more, I don't need to be less, I just need to be me, and I'll get the job done every time.”
Noah Lyles added that throughout the race, he felt like he was behind, but he did not focus on that, and the main goal was just to catch up with the lead group.
He revealed that at the 60m mark, he knew he had caught up with the pack and around the 80m mark, he knew he was supposed to lean if he was to get a medal. Luckily, his lean earned him a gold medal.
“So, by the time I got 10 meters left, I was already preparing the lean that would be coming up because I knew that this was it, it's either now or never. That was my thought process going through probably the second half of the race,” Noah Lyles said.
Noah Lyles highlighted the importance of his calm mindset, which he believes earned him a gold medal, something he will continue embracing this season ahead of his title defence at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.