Noah Lyles celebrates after winning the men's 100m final. GETTY IMAGES

Noah Lyles is the new Olympic 100m champion. At the end of the race, not even the athletes knew who had won. There was doubt as to whether it was him or Jamaican athlete Kisame Thompson, who won silver. The bronze went to USA's Fred Kerley.

Noah Lyles and Kishan Thompson ran in the same hundredth of a second. The American was five thousandths of a second faster and with that he took the gold. He is a great star of athletics, he encourages the spectacle that surrounds the race, but he also has the mentality to win in the race that is not his great speciality, which is the 200m.

Thompson didn't get off to the best start, but he did excel for much of the race. Lyles leaned more on his chest as he crossed the finish line, as could be seen in the photo finish. Before seeing that image that clarified the gold and silver medals, the two athletes waited for the result to appear on the screen. They did not know who had won.

The official time for both of them is 9.79. It is a personal best for Lyles, who becomes the new sprint king. Thompson made a great impression in the semi-finals, and the work he has done has earned him the silver medal.



Fred Kerley, Lyles' compatriot, was very close to them. He clocked 9.81, his best time of the season, earning him the bronze medal. He had to be that fast because the race was very evenly matched.

South Africa's Akani Simbine broke his country's record, but his time of 9.82 only secured him fourth place. The same happened to Letsile Tebogo, who broke the Botswana record and finished sixth with a time of 9.86.

Fifth was Marcell Jacobs, the Italian who caused a surprise at Tokyo 2020 by winning gold in the 100m and the 4x100 relay. He clocked 9.85, the best time this season. With 9.80 in Tokyo he would not have won, but he would have taken the bronze.

Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh wins gold in the High Jump

The final started with the bar set at 1.86m. To begin with, an injury. Brazil's Valdivia Martins, just as she was running to the mat, felt a puncture and withdrew. Incidentally, Ethiopia's Ekhal Ekwam was also injured in the last heat of the men's 400m in the middle of the race. On a day where we have seen the bitter tears of Carolina Marin in badminton after breaking her knee again.

Soon the list of finalists still competing for the medals was reduced. And the final sieve came at 1.95, as only two jumpers made it higher. It came down to a battle between Ukraine and Australia. 

The four medalists celebrating after final. GETTY IMAGES
The four medalists celebrating after final. GETTY IMAGES

Based on the number of failures, the best athletes among those who cleared 1.95 meters were Ukraine's Iryna Gerashchenko and Australia's Eleanor Patterson. They were tied, so both took the bronze medal.

The bar was then raised to 2.00 meters, with Ukraine's world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Australia's Nicola Olyslagers as the only remaining jumpers. The Ukrainian jumped first, followed by the Australian.



At 2.02m, neither succeeded, so the nulls determined Mahuchikh to be the Olympic champion. It was another step forward in her career, having taken bronze at Tokyo 2020 and won gold at World and European Championships, both outdoors and indoors. The other three medallists achieved the same result at the previous Games.

Ethan Katzberg, hammer champion

Just before the 100m show, the men's hammer final was over. But the gold medal was decided from the first throw. Ethan Katzberg threw 84.12m, the second best throw in an Olympic final. No one could come close to that record.

Ethan Katzberg competes in the men's hammer throw final. GETTY IMAGES
Ethan Katzberg competes in the men's hammer throw final. GETTY IMAGES

The rest were fighting each other for the other medals, and the Canadian was fighting against himself to try to beat his first throw and take his performance further than ever before. But he came up short at 84.12. And with the gold medal.

Silver went to Hungary's Bence Halasz with a throw of 79.97m. More than four metres behind Katzberg. The bronze went to Ukraine's Mykhaylo Kokhan, who managed to send the hammer to 79.39m.