SAINT-DENIS, France — Before Noah Lyles walked onto the track in the men’s 100-meter final Sunday night, his coach Lance Brauman told him that the next time they saw one another, Lyles would be an Olympic champion.
‘I said ‘Hey, a showman shows up when the show’s on,” Brauman recalled. ‘And that’s what he did.’
Lyles surged to a thrilling and momentous Olympic gold medal Sunday, cementing his place as the fastest man in the world by beating Kishane Thompson of Jamaica in a photo finish that might go down as the closest final in Olympic history. The jumbotron at Stade de France showed both men with a time of 9.79 seconds, while the actual margin between them was almost impossibly slim: Five thousandths of a second.
Brauman, who has coached Lyles for years, watched it all unfold from a spot on the back stretch near the finish line, grappling with the kind of nerves and excitement that only the Olympic final can provide.
At around the 60-meter mark, he said he felt really good about Lyles’ positioning. At 80 meters, he thought ‘holy cow, he’s right there.’ At 90, he started to worry. It was a much closer race than he thought.
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‘I thought he was going to run a (personal best). I have for the past three weeks,’ Brauman said. ‘It was just a matter of, was he going to run a big enough PB to win the race? And he did.’
Brauman said he had to move from his seat to get a better view of the jumbotron. When asked about the time, 9.79, he noted that it was the fastest time to win an Olympic 100-meter final by someone not named Usain Bolt. But he also added that ‘I didn’t give a (expletive) what the time was, to be totally honest with you.’ Brauman just cared that Lyles crossed the line first.
Ditto for the 27-year-old’s form at the end, where he might have had a slight lean. (Contrary to preconceived notions, sprinting coaches teach their pupils to run up straight and power through the line, as leaning can cause deceleration.)
‘I haven’t seen it on film,’ Brauman said when asked if Lyles broke his form at the finish line. ‘If I go back and look at it? Maybe. But I don’t really give a (expletive) right this second.’
Brauman cracked a smile. He’s usually pretty reserved but said he went bonkers when he saw that Lyles had become an Olympic champion − a title that eluded him at the 2021 Tokyo Games and has, in part, motivated him in the three years since.
Brauman said this race, like all of Lyles’ wins in recent years, isn’t about his coaching or the message he offered before the race. But it is special to him. And, at least for now, the meticulous, affable coach with a Southern drawl said the usual analysis of Lyles’ technique and form could wait.
‘In races like that, you just got to do what you have to do to get to the line first,’ Brauman said. ‘He has a knack for it. And he did a hell of a job today.’
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad.
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