Chorzów (Poland) (AFP) – Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson exacted a measure of revenge by beating Olympic champion Noah Lyles over 100m at the Silesia Diamond League meet on Saturday. It was the first time the two sprinters have met since Lyles clinched Olympic gold in Paris a year ago, just five-thousandths of a second ahead of Thompson. The fast-starting Jamaican timed a joint meet record of 9.87sec for victory in the Polish city of Chorzow, with Lyles second in 9.90sec. Another American, Kenny Bednarek, rounded out the podium in 9.96sec.
“It felt alright. My job is to get the job done,” said Thompson. The Jamaican, who missed the cut for the 2023 world championships in Budapest, will be one of the favourites for this year’s edition in Tokyo on September 13-21. But he downplayed the significance of the result. “Honestly, I compete against myself, no offence to the competition,” he said, admitting that his Paris Olympics experience had offered him a learning curve.
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“My race today was not so good, not so bad. I enjoyed competition against Noah today,” he said. “It is all about execution: I had problems with that, but I am finding it. The key is to find the momentum in the race and to maintain it until the end. Nobody is perfect, but I am working on improving my strengths and improving on my weaknesses.” Paris last year was a big learning factor. I learned it is me against myself. No disrespect to my rivals, but anything is possible when you execute well.”
Lyles put a positive spin on his second place, saying it was a “great stepping stone.” “I needed to see a sub-10,” the American said. “I needed to see winning, beating people, I took out some really big heads today, people who run 9.7 and 9.8. I am getting the confidence. It makes me really excited for not only today, but also for next week and Tokyo. The more I run, the better I am getting. I get more excited each day and it is working. I need to keep competing.”
Lyles was drawn in lane seven, outside Bednarek and inside Christian Coleman, with Thompson in five and South African Akani Simbine to his left. But it was Thompson who stole the march in hot and humid conditions, rocketing out of his blocks to leave the field in his wake for a true gun-to-tape display. Lyles had the joint slowest reaction of the nine-man line-up and looked to be out of even a podium finish from the start before he came through strongly over the closing 20 metres to pinch second place from Bednarek.
Thompson’s winning time matched the 9.87sec meet record jointly held by Americans Ronnie Baker and Fred Kerley. It did not quite match the world-leading 9.75sec he set at the Jamaican trials in June, a time which puts him sixth on the all-time list.
© 2024 AFP
