NOAH LYLES won the Olympics 100m gold by an extraordinary 0.005 seconds.
The American superstar, 27, produced a sensational comeback to claim his first Olympic gold medal by the finest of margins.
As the eight stars crossed the line, there was a nervous wait to see who had triumphed in the photo finish.
It was eventually confirmed that Lyles had just about edged it, with the Team USA star celebrating by pointing to his name card.
The Florida-born champion achieved a time of 9.79(.784) – clearing Kishane Thompson’s 9.79(.789) effort.
Speaking to the BBC just moments after victory, an ecstatic Lyles said: “You couldn’t have asked for a bigger moment.
“A guy in bio-mechanics comes down and before I came out here, he said it was going to be this much, that’s how close it is going to be and gosh was he right.
“I had to take every round as it was and I was a little upset after the first round so I came with the aggression and after I ran that 83 and I was done with the aggression.
“My sports therapist told me you need to let go, you’re holding on. Let go and release it.”
He then beamed: “I hope you guys like Noah because I got a lot more coming!”
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Four-time former gold medallist Michael Johnson made a bold claim.
The American, 56, told the BBC: “Absolutely [the best 100m final I have seen] bar none. It was so open, there were so many great athletes.
“It lived up to it, we had this amazing race where you could throw a blanket over the finishing line. We didn’t even know who won for a few minutes.”
History was made, with World Athletics confirming that this final marked the first time EVER that eight men have broken 10 seconds in a “wind-legal race”.
Eighth-placed Oblique Seville achieved a time of 9.91 seconds – making this the fastest-ever field.
On Lyles’ remarkable success, Johnson added: “That was incredible.
“Noah will be able to say ‘people doubted me’, but he put himself in a position to be doubted, he wasn’t good in the heats or semi-final.
“But he put it all together in the final.
“Yes he was at the back of the pack but when he gets into his frequency he can’t be matched.
“And you guys had it right, Thompson tightened up at the end and that was down to experience.”
Lyles was joined on the podium by a fellow American, with Fred Kerley claiming bronze – having earned a silver in Tokyo last time out.
NOAH LYLES had ants in his pants, a spring in his step and nothing but gold in his eyes.
While his seven rivals for the title of the world’s fastest man chilled out on the starting line, this hyperactive American showman raced half way up the track, leapt up and down and beat his chest when they announced his name.
You feared that the world champion and favourite might have shot his bolt before this blue-riband race had even started – especially when he trailed the field almost halfway through.
But Lyles switched on the after-burners and dipped at the finishing line in a personal best time of 9.784secs – five thousandths of a second in front of his rival Kishane Thompson of Jamaica.
Then Lyles, 27, had to wait for longer than the race actually took before he was revealed as the winner.
Suddenly it was Noah’s Arc de Triomphe in the French capital.
Lyles is a breathless self-publicist, the star of a Netflix documentary, with braids in his hair and paint on his fingernails.
He might now become a global star to emulate Usain Bolt, the world-record holder and three-time Olympic 100m champion.
Bolt used to win these stellar events at a canter but for Lyles it was as tight as a gnat’s back passage.
The Florida man was stone-last after 40m but then kicked into action for the night of his life.
These are sport’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-them men. And that winning margin – just a half of a hundredth of a second – is the difference between glory and heartache.
And this is one of sport’s greatest spectacles. The deathliest of hushes when they crouch at the blocks, penetrated by the loudest of bangs from the starting pistol, followed by the maddest of dashes for the line.
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