Noah Lyles closes tournament with a bang and advances to first round of 100

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Noah Lyles walks through the Olympic Village in disguise, wearing sunglasses, a hat and even a mask to limit the eye he receives.

On the track he cannot avoid it. Or everyone’s best shot.

It’s a lesson he learned when he finished second in his first 100-meter heat Saturday on the Paris Games. The American began sluggishly and finished in 10.04 seconds, 0.06 seconds behind Louie Hinchliffe, the British sprinter coached by Carl Lewis.

Competing against Lyles is all the time a big event.

“These boys said they were coming to play,” he said. “This is my first lesson in underestimating the ability of the Olympics. When someone is on the road, they are going to give it their all or nothing.

“But now I don’t have to hold back. I’m ready to go.”

Lyles fooled around before taking his place within the starting blocks. He dolled himself up for the camera, flashed his Team USA nail polish—blue with stars—and threw a few imaginary punches like a boxer. He powered himself up by the noise of the packed stadium. When the race began, he had to shift into an additional gear to get back to second place.

“Honestly, I kept my cards close to my chest,” Lyles explained.

The second-place finish means Lyles, the reigning world champion within the 100 and 200 meters, won’t have a alternative of lane when he races within the semifinals on Sunday. If he advances, he can be competing for the gold medal later within the evening.

“I definitely downplayed my competition,” Lyles said. “I thought, ‘There’s no reason to put this on the line.’ But these guys showed me they were ready to compete. I said, ‘OK, I can’t do this anymore.’ I promise it won’t happen again.”

Also advancing within the early heats was Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who slowed in the ultimate 20 metres but still won his race by 10 seconds. Thompson’s race was delayed for several minutes after British sprinter Jeremiah Azu was penalised for a false start. Azu watched the replay and made his case to the judges before leaving the track.

Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala won his heat in 10.08, while Jamaican Oblique Seville won his heat in 9.99. Defending Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs, who reported being bitten by an insect within the starting blocks, finished second in his heat and advanced to the following round.

“I made some mistakes early on,” Jacobs said, “that didn’t let me get to the pace I wanted.”

Lyles’ U.S. teammates, Fred Kerley and Kenny Bednarek, also won their qualifying races in impressive fashion, each posting times of 9.97.

“I’m changing the narrative this year. I was an outsider for a few years,” said Bednarek, a silver medalist within the 200 meters on the Tokyo Olympics. “I’m not trying to be an outsider, I’m trying to be the best. When I finally reach that milestone, I’m not going back. I’m running away with it.”

For Lyles, it was just business. After the race, he even approached Hinchliffe with words of encouragement.

“It was just, ‘Good job,’” Hinchliffe said of their conversation. “You just appreciate me.”

Lyles said the pressure of the world championships last summer was greater than he has ever felt at these Olympics.

“I felt like I had to fight to prove I was the fastest,” said Lyles, one of the celebrities of a Netflix documentary about sprinters. “This time, a lot of people know about it, and I already have a target on my back.”

He’s unsure how long it is going to take him to win Olympic gold, but he is definite of one thing: “I can do it,” Lyles said.

Second likelihood

Abbey Caldwell of Australia was one of the 800-meter runners who used the security net of the repechage round to advance to the semifinals. This is the first Olympics during which track and field has adopted the repechage rule, which supplies a second likelihood to hurdlers, sprinters and middle-distance runners who fail to advance to the following heats in distances between 200 and 1,500 meters.

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Caldwell filled one of six available spots.

“I am very happy and fortunate,” Caldwell said.

Mondo Cruises

It was a simple day of qualifying for defending Olympic pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis. The Swedish world record holder made just two jumps and cleared each heights.

“Kind of a boring qualifying, which is what I wanted,” Duplantis said. “As uneventful as I wanted it to be.”

American Sam Kendricks advanced, but his teammate Christopher Nilsen, the Olympic silver medalist from Tokyo, didn’t advance.

Around the track

Comoros sprinter Hachim Maaroufou wears his cap backwards when he races for one easy reason: It makes it easier for his family and friends to spot him. … Shaun Gill, who represents Belize, calls it a profession so he can turn into an industrial engineer. “It’s time to get that real engineering experience,” said the 31-year-old Texas A&M University Kingsville graduate.