Olympic Gold But Not the Fastest: Noah Lyles’ Surprising Place in 2024’s 100M Rankings

With so many surprises in store for the 2024 track season, the 100-meter rankings revealed an unexpected element heading into the year’s final months. This statistic is based on athletes who run the quickest time of the season in the specific division, and although Noah Lyles won an Olympic gold medal in Paris, he never finished first in the standings.

Kishane Thompson of Jamaica takes the crown as the current world leader in the 100-meter. The youngster quickly rose to prominence after competing in the Jamaican Olympic Trials.

He set faster times until a 9.77 in the finals, which sent him to the top of the leaderboard. Even though Thompson did not win Olympic gold in Paris, he holds the title of quickest 100-meter athlete in the 2024 season.

Ferdinand Omanyala, a Kenyan sprinter, is in second place. The two-time African champion, who rarely ran a sub-10 during the campaign’s early months, was the subject of many concerns.

However, when he arrived at the Kenyan Olympic Trials, he comfortably qualified through the preliminary rounds and ran a blistering 9.79 seconds in the final.

Lyles ran the same time in the men’s 100-meter finals at the Paris Olympics, allowing him to finish 0.005 seconds ahead of Thompson and win his first Olympic gold medal. This 9.79-second time also tied him with Omanyala in the 100-meter standings.

The 10 fastest men in 100m in 2024. pic.twitter.com/0q41Mka2S2

— Track Spice ️ (@trackspice) September 21, 2024

However, Lyles was not the only American competitor in the top five; Fred Kerley came fourth, owing to his scorching time of 9.81 seconds at the Paris Olympics.

Unlike Lyles, Kerley struggled through the early 2024 season. Despite his versatility, he had to concentrate on the 100 meters since he wanted to demonstrate his determination to the world while silencing critics. He eventually won an Olympic medal and had one of the quickest times of his remarkable track career.

Following Kerley, the list continued with Oblique Seville‘s 9.81, followed by Akani Simbine‘s 9.82, Lamont Marcell Jacobs‘ 9.85, Christian Coleman‘s 9.86, Benjamin Richardson‘s 9.86, and the 200m Olympic gold medalist Letsile Tebogo‘s 9.86.

The gap between the top ten 100-meter athletes was razor-thin, demonstrating how fierce the competition was in the 2024 season.