Noah Lyles warms up for Olympics by setting personal best of 9.81 seconds to win 100m in London
LONDON — As the Paris Olympics approach, Noah Lyles has never been faster.
The American world champion prepared for the Paris Games by setting a personal best in the 100 metres at Saturday’s Diamond League meeting in London, clocking 9.81 seconds to beat a strong field in the last major meet before the Olympics.
Lyles trailed his rivals at the start before taking the lead over the field in the final 50 metres. South Africa’s Akani Simbine was second in 9.86 seconds and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo third in 9.88 seconds, with the top five all breaking the 10-second barrier.
“I could have gotten a better start. I’ve gotten a lot better starts in training,” Lyles said. “I wanted to get under 9.80, but I’m going to try to beat my personal best every day of the week.”
Lyles’ previous best time was 9.83 seconds, set at last year’s world championships in Budapest, where he won the 100, 200 and 4×100 relay. selected for US Olympic trials last month.
Saturday’s result further strengthens him as the favourite for the gold medal in Paris, where he will be able to consolidate his status as the fastest man in the world.
And Lyles isn’t shy about his Olympic goal.
“I’m going to win,” he said. “That’s what I always do.”
Other notable results at the London Stadium, which hosted the 2012 Olympics, included Great Britain’s Matt Hudson-Smith’s record time of 43.74 seconds in the men’s 400m and world champion Femke Bol’s record time of 51.30 seconds in the women’s 400m hurdles, her second-best time of all time.
In the women’s 200m, Gabrielle Thomas came from behind to overtake Julien Alfred and Dina Asher-Smith to win in 21.82.
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