Analyst explains how Noah Lyles won 100m despite his foot not crossing first

Aug 4, 2024; Paris, FRANCE; Noah Lyles (USA) celebrates winning the men’s 100m final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Stade de France. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Noah Lyles managed to become an Olympic gold medalist by the slimmest possible margin.

Lyles took home the gold in the men’s 100-meter race at the Paris Games on Sunday in a thrilling photo finish. With a time of 9.784 seconds, Lyles beat out silver medalist Kishane Thompson of Jamaica (9.789 seconds) by a mere five-thousandths of a second. Fellow American Fred Kerley rounded out the podium with a time of 9.81 seconds to win the bronze.

Many viewers were confused though because the photo finish revealed that Thompson’s foot had actually crossed the finish line before Lyles’ did. As a result, FS1’s Emmanuel Acho, who lettered in track in high school, clarified things in a post to X. The reason why Lyles won the race, Acho explained, is because the clock stops when the runner’s torso crosses the finish line. The first body part to cross the line does NOT determine the winner.

For those confused as to why Noah Lyles was awarded Gold instead of Thompson, even though Thompson’s foot crossed 1st:

The clock stops when your torso crosses the line *not* 1st body part. Noah leans w/ his chest, while Thompson subtly concaves his chest. That was the difference pic.twitter.com/13WqNsjrvm

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) August 4, 2024

Interestingly enough, Thompson would have been the gold-medal winner had he leaned in with his chest at the finish line like Lyles did (which the above photo shows that Thompson did not do). That is how absolutely narrow the margins can be in Olympic competition.

The razor-thin victory by Lyles, who already won bronze in the 200m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, did admittedly throw many people off. Even the NBC announcer calling the race live mistakenly thought that Thompson had won.