Lyles vs. Bolt: How Team USA’s Paris sprinting sensation stacks up against the GOAT

Noah Lyles, the United States' biggest and brightest track star and a Florida resident, clinched the title of "Fastest Person in the World" by winning gold in the 100-meter run at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.

Despite a slow start, Lyles turned in a personal best performance, running a 9.79 dash in a dramatic photo finish to edge past the other sprinters.

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Team USA’s Noah Lyles remembers mistakenly congratulating Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson for winning the men’s 100m Sunday in Paris. Lyles captured gold by 5/1000th of a second, replay showed.

On the biggest stage in Paris, Lyles has had the most pressure to perform among the U.S. men's Track and Field Team, a lot of it self-imposed.

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Lyles has been an, at times, divisive and vocal figure in the sport and has openly stated his goals of breaking Jamaican runner Usain Bolt's records and getting a triple gold in Paris.

After winning the 100 meters by 0.005 seconds, Lyles' hopes for a triple gold are still alive. But how close (or far) is he to the fastest man in history?

Lyles vs. Bolt

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The 100 meters is the main test to determine the "Fastest Person in the World" title.

While Lyles' time of 9.79 seconds was enough to win gold, Bolt's world record in the event is 9.58 seconds. Comparing the two in a hypothetical 100-meter dash, Lyles would finish around seven feet behind Bolt.

Lyles' strongest event is the 200-meter run. His record is 19.31 seconds, which is slightly slower than Bolt's world record of 19.19 seconds, set in 2009.

In a hypothetic 200-meter matchup, Lyles would be behind by about four feet.

However, for spectators, the difference would only be about 0.12 seconds. For perspective, that's the difference between Lyles and the last place finisher in the 100-meter final, Oblique Seville of Jamaica.

So, will Lyles break Bolt's records at the Paris Olympics? Probably not, but the United States' top sprinter is undoubtedly at the top of the current field.

He also has a chance to make the kind of Olympic history that's been made by Bolt and others.

Team USA’s Noah Lyles won gold in the 100m final at the 2024 Paris Olympics by a margin of five thousandths of a second. Let’s put that into perspective.

Can Lyles make history?

So far, he is the first U.S. runner to win the 100 meters since Justin Gatlin in 2004. The last American man to win the men's 200 meters was Shawn Crawford, also in 2004.

Lyles, who won triple gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4x100 meters at the 2023 Budapest World Championships, is again the favorite for the 200 meters in Paris.

If Lyles wins the 200-meter race, he'll be first to win both the 100 meters and 200 meters in the same Olympics since Bolt, who achieved the feat in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

He would also be the first U.S. runner to win both since Carl Lewis in 1984.

How did Noah Lyles run Monday?

Lyles raced in the sixth heat in the first round in the 200 meters on Monday, winning in 20.19 seconds. Lyles will now race in the semifinals on Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 2:02 p.m. ET/11:02 a.m. PT.

Less than 24 hours after winning the 100m gold medal, Noah Lyles returned to the track and won his 200m heat in 20.19 seconds to advance to the semifinals at the Paris Olympics.