EUGENE, Ore. — Noah Lyles He went into the 100-meter final at the Olympic Trials on Sunday night in the best shape of his life. After winning gold medals in the 100, 200 and 4×100 relay at last year's world championships in Budapest, he strengthened his weaker areas and then won a national title in the indoor 60. Everything was going well for his plan to win Olympic gold in Paris.
Fred Currie He came into the same race on Sunday night having endured the toughest period of his professional career over the past 12 months, having failed to qualify in the 100m final at last year's world championships and then changing coaches. Alain Francis To Quincy Watts Curley announced her retirement at the end of 2023. She hadn't been able to run a sub-10-second time in any race in 2024, and two weeks before the trials it was revealed she had parted ways with shoe sponsor Asics, who had signed her with a lucrative contract after she won the world championships in 2022. Curley was unhappy with the starting blocks and didn't even run her most recent scheduled race in New York.
But when the starter called them to the blocks shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday at Hayward Field, with Lyles in lane 7 and Curley in lane 8, none of that mattered. The guy in lane 4 was Christian Colemanis the fastest starter of all time, and the (young) guy in lane 9 is a high school star. Christian Millerhad just turned 18 a month earlier, and all that mattered was what happened over the next 100 meters.
That's the beauty of the U.S. Olympic Trials: it only takes 10 seconds to change your life.
Noah Lyles wins the 100m at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials (Photo by Kevin Morris)
Coleman got off to a great start, as he always does, and for the first 70 meters it was his race. But it wasn't his race. He had some guys catching up, and with 20 meters to go, Lyles Kenny Bednarekand Curley passed him almost in unison. Suddenly, Coleman strained, and his form slipped as he leaned toward the line.
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Lyles, who had the fastest top speed in the event, won in a time of 9.83 seconds, tying his personal best. Bednarek came in second in 9.87 (a personal best) and Curley came in third in 9.88. Coleman went from leading the race to dropping out of the team just four seconds later, finishing in fourth place, a place no one wants to be in the trials.
| place | athlete | sponsor | time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noah Lyles | Adidas OLY STD | 9.83 |
| 2 | Kenny Bednarek | Nike Ollie STD | 9.87 |
| 3 | Fred Currie | Not connected OLY STD | 9.88 |
| Four | Christian Coleman | Nike Ollie STD | 9.93 |
| Five | Christian Miller | St. John's Striders OLY STD | 9.98 |
| 6 | Courtney Lindsay | Nike Ollie STD | 10.02 |
| 7 | Brandon Hicklin | Nike Ollie STD | 10.03 |
| 8 | Kendall Williams | Adidas OLY STD | 10.04 |
| 9 | J.T. Smith | disconnected | 10.22 |
Lyles missed out on the team three years ago and finished seventh in the 100m at the 2021 Trials (he made the team in the 200m), but this race wasn't about revenge for him. Since the 2021 Trials, Lyles has never missed out on the team and has won every global outdoor final he's participated in. He's become one of the faces of the sport, and he's done it by inviting the pressure and attention, not running from it. He'll be the subject of an NBC documentary in 2023 and one of the main characters in Netflix's “The Best of 2021.” Sprint He is due to be released next month. He's been planning elaborate entrances at races to generate buzz among fans — on Sunday he was escorted into Hayward Field by Snoop Dogg carrying a briefcase full of Lyles' racing gear — and is free to speak his mind about all things sports during press conferences and lengthy mixed-zone interviews.
Most importantly, he keeps winning. No one has ever won the 100 meters twice, which is no easy feat. Usain Bolt Lyles, who retired seven years ago, ran the 60m nine times this winter, knowing that if he could win the event, and keep up his speed for another 40m outdoors, he would be unstoppable. His goal each round in Eugene was to “win the 60m,” and he did just that. Lyles recorded the fastest times in the first round (9.92), semifinal (9.80 with a wind speed of +3.0 m/s), and final (9.83).
Even though this was Lyles' first Olympic 100 meters, everything seemed to be business as usual. Lyles had watched his race seven times, studying his form and looking for lessons, but he didn't need video analysis to analyze tonight's biggest win of his life.
Photo by Kevin Morris
“Every step felt right,” Lyles said, “…I didn't feel like I had to push too hard. It felt like my knees were going straight into the truck. My knees were right underneath me. Each step felt more powerful than the one before.” I won this race.“
Heading to Paris
Lyles has made his first steps to Paris (he will also compete in the 200 meters next week), and he will head to Paris as the favorite to win. But of the two American 100-meter champions who will be crowned this weekend, Shakari Richardson A sure bet for Olympic 100m gold. Lyles actually lost his last 100m race before the trials, running 9.85 in Kingston. Diagonal Seville“And Sevilla has a chance to go even faster at next week's Jamaican qualifier. Lyles also admitted that he was aiming for a 9.7-second time in tonight's final, but he hasn't gotten into that league yet. But it's worth noting that the past two Olympic finals (and the past three World Championship finals) have all been won in under 9.80 seconds.
Another threat to Lyles' chances of winning the gold medal comes from his teammates from the Paris Olympics. For the second consecutive Olympic Trials, Bednarek has run perfect times, and after missing out on the team three years ago with a 9.89 pb, tonight he took second place with a 9.87 pb. He's always been outstanding in the 200m, but he's never been in this form in the 100m. He told his coach: Dennis Mitchell Four of the six U.S. 100-meter Olympians who have been coached by Mitchell Shakari Richardson, Melissa Jeffersonand TeeTee Terry They dominated the women's podium on Saturday.
But it's Carly who's emerging as the real danger. Between an Olympic silver medal in 2021 and a world championship gold medal in 2022, we already know how good Carly can be when she gets it right. But Carly has had a lot of issues recently and was in doubt coming into this tournament.External Never doubt. Karlie has never doubted herself. If all goes well, she won't walk away from the biggest shoe contract in sports a month before the Olympic Trials. The logical reasoning is backed up by sprint analysts. Ray EdwardsAccording to Jonathan McClellan, an Asics athlete who is close to Carly, Carly was not satisfied with Asics' products and was planning to give up large guaranteed prize money by racing without a shoe contract in the trials.
It's a big risk, but it's also a risk for a 29-year-old athlete to show up to the Olympic Trials (perhaps the last of his prime) in equipment he doesn't trust. Curley showed up tonight in an Oakley singlet (he sponsors) and Nike cleats (Nike doesn't sponsor him). Asked about his split with Asics, Curley wouldn't provide details (though his agent said he was “not sure” about it). Ricky Sims He told LetsRun.com he made the decision before his race in New York on June 9. He was a little more forthcoming about his decision to change coaches in 2024, saying he plans to move to Los Angeles and Michael Norman and Rye Benjamin Under Quincy Watts, but only briefly.
“I felt like it was an end and a beginning,” Curley said, “and this was the beginning and end of an upward trajectory toward the next cycle of the 2024 and 2028 Olympics.”
Being part of a team is what matters most to Carly right now, and after improving his season's best from 10.03 to 9.88 in tonight's final, he's on a roll with six weeks to go until Paris.
Coleman takes a complete victory with 4th place
Most of the truly great Olympic qualifying races involve bloody sacrifice. The three Olympic spots are meaningful precisely because only With third place vacant, fourth place is a painful position to be in. And few positions are more painful than the fourth place finish Christian Coleman experienced tonight.
Coleman placed sixth in her first trials as a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Tennessee in 2016. After winning a silver medal at the 2017 world championships and a gold medal in 2019, Coleman entered the 2020 Olympics as the favorite, but she was suspended for two years (later reduced to 18 months) after missing three drug tests in May 2020 and missed the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Coleman, one of the most decorated sprinters of his generation (he's a two-time World Indoor 60-meter champion and world record holder for the distance), tonight was a chance to earn his first individual Olympic berth since competing in a relay in 2016. Coleman trained hard during his suspension and slowly got back into form, placing sixth at the 2022 World Championships, fifth in 2023 and first in the 60-meter at the World Indoor Championships in March 2024. He qualified for the trials by winning two of his three 2024 Diamond League 100-meter races and performed well throughout the rounds, including a wind-free 9.86 in the semifinal early Sunday, the second-fastest time by an American this year.
Had Coleman run that time in the final, there would have been a celebration three years in the making. Instead, after he crossed the line, looked at the scoreboard, read his result and took a seat next to the seventh-place finisher around the first corner. Brandon HicklinNeon green spike plates resting on the rails: If ever there was a photo that epitomized her fourth-place finish at the Olympic Trials, this was it.
Coleman will compete in the 4×100 relay in Paris with a shot at gold (though the U.S. hasn't won the event since 2000) and will have another chance to make the team at next week's 200 trials, but the event is also dominated by Lyles, Bednarek and Elyon KnightonColeman may return for another trial in 2028, when he'll be 32, and only one 32-year-old has been selected to the U.S. Olympic 100 team in the past 70 years.Justin Gatlin (2016) This may have been his last chance.
High school student Christian Miller: 5th place
After all, new talent is always emerging in the U.S., and the latest example is recent Creekside High School graduate Christian Miller, who placed fifth tonight, one spot behind Coleman. Unfamiliar with the electronic guns used in the trials (high school races use blanks), Miller was slow on the starting line in Friday's heats (10.22), but ran much better in the semifinals (9.94, +2.6) and finals (9.98). A year ago, no American high school athlete had broken the wind-legal 10-second mark. Miller has now done it three times in a remarkable 2024 season that should end in Paris with him qualifying for the 4×100 relay.
“I feel like I set the standard for all the young guys that came after me, the third-years, the freshmen, the sophomores,” Miller said. “I feel like I set the bar for them, just setting the stage for the younger generation to come on offense.”
