It was like the world came to a standstill, as all eyes stared at the screen, waiting for the men’s 100m sprint results in Paris. With just 0.005 seconds ahead of his Jamaican rival Kishane Thompson, Noah Lyles was declared the Olympic champion. Also, the rest of the sprinters were not further behind, as it all came down to the wire, and a photo finish was needed to declare the verdict. But guess what? There was one visionary man who had predicted this possibility.

As the top three, Lyles, Thompson, and Fred Kerley caught up with the press afterward, Lyles opened up to a Citius Magazine reporter on how his coach’s predictions were on point.

While describing how tight the contest was, Lyles said, “He [Kishane] was out there in lane 4 and I was in lane 7 and I could’nt really see what was going on over there. So I just had to keep running like I was going to win it. And something said, I need to lean and I was like Imma lean, because you know it was that type of race and what’s crazy is my Ralph Mann was like, before I left for Paris he was like this is how close first and second is going to be away from each other and I can’t believe how right he was.” 

But wait. Who is Ralph Mann, whose predictions were so on point? For those unaware, Noah Lyles teamed up with a sports mechanics research expert named Ralph Mann in April 2024. And we have all details coming right up for you.

Noah Lyles’ sports mechanics research expert is a visionary

To focus on enhancing his performance during the start of his races, Lyles teamed up with Ralph Mann earlier this year. In one of his Grassroots video, Lyles giggled on how him and Ralph are together going to figure, “Why my start is so bad?” Further, he describes Ralph Mann as a biomechanist. “He works on the body, learns how to make it faster.” As per Lyles, for the past 10 years Ralph has been studying the topmost sprinters. He further researches on what helps those sprinters to get their form, and get their bodies in the right angles for having quick starts.

Ralph Mann himself is a 1972 Olympic silver medalist in the 400m hurdles category. Plus, he has been the mechanics maestro at USATF for a long time. Plus, he has studied the nuances of the field in-depth as a professional. The author of the book, “The Mechanics of Sprinting and Hurdling,” he is a seasoned master to get the advices from. And well, he did warn Noah Lyles how close his sprint could possibly get. And that is what happened. Had Lyles not kept his head and torso ahead during the finish, as advised by Ralph Mann, the 0.005 second lead may have been in jeopardy.