Maroc - dailynews.co.za - Sport - 04/Aug 20:46

Akani Simbine misses out on a medal despite SA record as Noah Lyles wins 100m Olympic gold

Team South Africa’s Akani Simbine’s narrowly missed out on a Paris Olympics medal in the men’s 100m final despite sprinting to a new national record.World champion Noah Lyles roared to victory in 9.79 to claim the gold, becoming the the first American - male or female - to win the event since Justin Gatlin won it at the 2004 Athens Games.Simbine finished in fourth after clocking a time of 9.82, breaking his own South African record of 9.84, which he set in July 2021 in Hungry.Kishane Thompson won the silver medal despite clocking the same time as Lyles. In the end he was just five-thousandths of a second off Lyles' pace.NOAH LYLES IS YOUR 100M OLYMPIC CHAMP9.79 for the gold 🔥#Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/BgNgayPlR2— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 4, 2024 Fred Kerley beat Simbine to the bronze medal after he ran a 9.81 race.It’s heartbreak for a third successive Games for Simbine, who clocked his fastest time in an Olympic final. He finished fifth at Rio 2016 and fourth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.Simbine qualified for the 100m final with a run of 9.87 in the semi-finals and knew he needed a personal best in the final to stand any chance of a medal.🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 Akani Simbine set a new national record in the men's 100m final with a time of 9.82, finishing 4th! 🏃‍🔥 #TeamSA #ForMyCountry #OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/khgb21IReO— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 4, 2024 Thompson clocked 9.80 in the semis and was the favourite for the title. However, Lyles, who looked out of sorts in the heats, came good when it really mattered as he powered his way to the win with a strong last 20 metres of the race.Defending champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy was fifth in 9.85, Botswana's Letsile Tebogo sixth in 9.86, American Kenny Bednarek seventh in 9.88 and Jamaican Oblique Seville eighth in 9.91 in an astonishing race.Additional reporting by AFPIOL Sport