The 100m final is as tense as any event at the Olympics but few will come close to the dramatic finish fans were treated to at the 2024 Games. Pundits were left claiming this was the greatest 100m event in history after all eight contestants finished within 0.12 seconds of the gold medal - which was secured by American runneer Noah Lyles , winning in 9.
79 and holding off Jamaica's Kishane Thompson following a stunning photo finish. Lyles and Thompson both faced an agonising wait before the former discovered he was the winner, claiming his first gold medal by five hundredths of a second - having claimed a bronze in the 200m in the Tokyo Games four years ago After an incredible turn of events with records broken, words exchanged and plenty of questions, Mirror Sport takes a look at the biggest talking points of an amazing 100m race. What is a photo finish? A photo finish happens in a race when more than one competitor crosses the finish line at almost the same time, with officials traditionally using a 'photo' or video footage to determine who the winner is.
During especially tight finishes, that will include checking to see who has edged ahead and analysing which body part hit the finish line first. In Lyles' case, technology was used with red lines breaking down the photo finish - similar to VAR in football - that shows the American's chest was the first body part across the line. While Thompson's foot appears to have crossed the line first, it is the torso - which includes t.