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No man has been able to establish themselves as a dominant 100-meter force since Usain Bolt’s retirement.
One of the marquee events of every Summer Olympics is the men’s 100-meter dash. In addition to the gold medal, the winner is also crowned the unofficial but famously coveted “World’s Fastest Man.” The likes of Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, Maurice Greene, and Usain Bolt have all etched their names as the greatest sprinters in track and field history.
When the 2024 final happens on Aug. 4 in Paris, it will be the second Olympics and sixth major global championship since Bolt’s last gold medal run. The incomparable and nearly indomitable Jamaican left no doubt through his near-decade of record-setting dominance that he was the best in the business.
In the eight years since Bolt’s Olympic farewell, the “World’s Fastest Man” distinction has been passed around like a hot potato. There have been no repeat winners over the previous four World Championships and the Tokyo Games, and the wait for the next preeminent sprinting force continues.
The man who could repeat and be the “Bolt successor” is the flamboyant, entertaining American phenom Noah Lyles. As the three-time world champion at 200 meters and third-fastest of all-time, he’s only now showcasing his talents at 100. Lyles enters the Olympics as the reigning 100 and 200m world and US champion, and while he’s widely favored to win gold in his signature event (which he’s not lost in three years), it’s far from a lock he’ll do the same in the 100.
This is not a knock on Lyles; it’s a testament to the incredible global quality in the sprints. The floor is higher—the Olympic qualifying standard is exactly 10 seconds—and the gap between elite sprinters is small. It took a personal best 9.83 and his trademark strong close for Lyles to win his first 100m gold, and he might have to go even quicker in Paris because of the caliber of opposition he’ll soon be facing.
With that in mind, let’s take a look beyond Lyles and preview who else in the field is in contention.
The next great Jamaicans: Oblique Seville and Kishane Thompson
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Why yes, the USA vs. Jamaica rivalry is not going away any time soon. No Jamaican man has won a Worlds or Olympic 100m medal post-Bolt, but that drought has a strong chance to end this year. The 23-year-old Oblique Seville finished 4th in each of the last two World Championships, and last month in Jamaica he ran a personal best 9.82 to defeat Noah Lyles. Coached by Glen Mills, the same man who coached Bolt, Seville is one of Jamaica’s brightest young talents.
And yet, another 23-year-old countryman has grabbed headlines as a serious gold medal contender.
Kishane Thompson, who had a couple of impressive Diamond League races toward the end of 2023, raised eyebrows at Jamaica’s Olympic trials by beating Seville with his blistering 9.77, making him the first Jamaican to dip under 9.8 since Bolt’s dramatic world title win over Justin Gatlin in 2015. It was Thompson’s 9.82 in the first round of qualifying that resulted in an evening with doping control officers after he hadn’t raced all season.
When Noah Lyles was notified of Thompson’s performance, he coolly replied, “Alright nice. Let’s hope he stays healthy.” Thompson has had injury issues in the past, but he’s healthy now and looking phenomenal.
At a meet in Hungary in early July, Thompson conquered a quality field and made 9.91 look effortless, easing up before the finish line.
Thompson still has a lot to prove in his first global championship, but his Jamaican trials performance makes him a major threat to Lyles and the rest of the field.
The other man joining Thompson and Seville on Team Jamaica is 22-year-old Ackeem Blake. At his best, he’s a 9.89 runner, but his inconsistent outings make him an outsider until proven otherwise.
The former world champion: Fred Kerley (USA)
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There’s not a more versatile sprinter in this field than the 2022 world champion. At 6’3 and north of 200 lbs, Kerley is a powerfully built athlete who’s one of only three men ever to go under 44 seconds at 400, 20 seconds in the 200, and 10 seconds in the 100. His personal best of 9.76 makes him joint sixth-fastest all-time, and he was the silver medalist in the last Olympics.
After surprisingly bowing out in the semifinals of last year’s Worlds, Kerley did not have a convincing start to his 2024 season. In fact, his last appearance before the Olympic trials ended with him not racing and cutting ties with Asics. And yet, when it was time for trials, the Texan silenced his doubters by snagging the third and final spot for Team USA, leaving 2019 world champion Christian Coleman off the team.
Competitive racing is all about peaking at the right time, and if Kerley is reaching his best form now, there’s every reason to believe he can upgrade his Tokyo silver into Paris gold.
The reigning Olympic champion: Marcell Jacobs (Italy)
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Remember him? You probably don’t. At the start of 2021, American-born Italian Lamont Marcell Jacobs had zero sub-10-second races to his name. By the end of the year, he shocked the world after rattling off three personal bests from qualifying through the Olympic final.
Jacobs has not been able to recapture that same form at a global level, with a persistent sciatic nerve issue among the reasons his race schedule was limited and his performances suffered. He did not reach the 2022 or 2023 World Championship finals, and hasn’t raced under 9.9 seconds (a nearly certain requirement to win gold in Paris) since his Olympic triumph.
There are signs that Jacobs is making considerable progress, having won the European Championship in Rome before running 9.92 in a meet in Finland last month. He’ll need a bit more to even make the final, let alone pull off the repeat, but it seems as if the lifestyle and coaching changes have him headed in the right direction.
Africa’s brightest star: Letsile Tebogo (Botswana)
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A former soccer player, Tebogo garnered track’s attention with his world under-20 record of 9.91 seconds in 2022, showboating on his way to the finish line. In the senior ranks, he earned a silver behind Lyles in the 100m and bronze in the 200m in last year’s Worlds. The 21-year-old comes to his first Olympics with a heavy heart, having lost his mother back in May.
There is no denying Tebogo’s pure talent and potential for greatness. If he continues his upward trajectory, Tebogo could be the long-term rival to Noah Lyles in both the 100 and 200. We might even see the first-ever Olympic gold medalist for Botswana next month.
The best of the rest
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Kenny Bednarek (USA). Known as ‘Kung Fu Kenny’ for his headbands and NOT as a Kendrick Lamar reference, Bednarek is an under-the-radar name who consistently performs at a high level. He’s won an Olympic and Worlds silver in the 200m, and he’s on his first 100m team after a personal best of 9.87 at US trials. Bednarek is highly likely to win another medal in the 200m, but he is a sneaky contender in his “weaker” event.
Zharnel Hughes (Great Britain). Hughes is a slight question mark after a hamstring injury kept him out of the British trials, but he was granted a medical exemption to compete in Paris. The 2023 World Championship bronze medalist boasts a British record 9.83 as a personal best, but he has a history of false starts, including a disqualification in the Tokyo final. If healthy (and with a proper reaction to the gun), he’s as formidable as anyone.
Ferdinand Omanyala (Kenya). Kenya is synonymous with prolific middle- and long-distance success, but Omanyala has chosen a different path. Now in his second Olympics, Omanyala is the African record holder with a personal best of 9.77. However, his fastest times have predominantly been in high-elevation cities, where thin air is as advantageous to sprinters as it is for NFL kickers. That advantage won’t exist in Paris, so he’ll have to dig deep to make history for his country and reach the podium.
Akani Simbine (South Africa). Just missing out on a medal is a bitter pill to swallow, and in Simbine’s case, he’s downed a whole bottle. He’s had the misfortune of finishing 4th or 5th five times in major championships since the 2016 Olympics. With a 9.84 personal best set just three years ago, Simbine has been a mainstay at the elite level, but at 30 years old this Olympics might be one of his last realistic shots at a medal, let alone gold.
In lieu of a truly dominant 100-meter champion, this year’s Olympic final will be highly intriguing for its unpredictability. If you’re expecting Bolt’s world record of 9.58 to be under threat, it’s not going to happen. If you’re a fan of competitive racing where there’s tremendous depth but no overwhelming favorite, then you should be in for a treat.
