Not everyone will have the chance to witness the Star Spangled Banner being played for their achievements in Paris. That’s exactly the case with Christian Coleman. As the men’s 100m final concluded moments ago, the reigning World Indoor Championships gold medalist was shown the exit from the road to Paris in the 100m event. This is the first team he failed to enter in seven years.

Coleman finished the race in fourth place, as seen via the Peacock stream. The top three spots were claimed by Noah Lyles, Kenny Bednarek, and Fred Kerley respectively. While Coleman’s 9.93 timing finish matches the Olympic standard, failure to secure a place among the top three will result in his Paris dreams coming to an abrupt halt by default.

However, USA’s hopes to clinch a gold in the event at the upcoming Paris Olympics only got bolstered with Lyles replicating his personal best of 9.83 to showcase his worth once again. But for Coleman, the same track that got him the World Championships silver medal in 2022 turned out to be the very stage that saw his hopes crumble like a card castle.

It seems that Noah Lyles’s strategy to practice 60m before the real deal really helped him overcome the reigning 60m world champion! His coach and he worked on his ‘start’ more than the rest, and it turns out it was all worth it! As per his statement, “I knew I had to run my best for 60m, which is why I ran more 60m this year.”

So all those 60m where everyone thought it was Lyles trying to outdo Christian, he was working on his start (0 to 60) to get better. The sprinter further shared, “Me and my coach were saying that you need to win the race from 60…but you’re a 6:43 runner now you need to run like one!”

Let us not forget Bednareck, who defeated Coleman at the Miramar Invitational 2024 in 200m by clocking in at 20.35, while Coleman finished second with a time of 20.43. Kerley too has had a great year so far. On a similar note, let us take a look at the performances of these athletes in 100m this year so far:

Noah Lyles:

Kenneth Bednarek:

Fred Kerley:

Christian Coleman:

But things started off pretty swell for the 28-year-old, to be fair. With a 9.99 seconds finish in the 1st round at the US Olympic trials, Coleman looked like a formidable force. In the semifinal race as well, Coleman crossed the finishing line in third place with an impressive 9.86 seconds on the clock. However, things were not to be, as the world stood witness just moments ago. With that, Coleman also failed to follow up on his boastful claims that caught the attention of track fans in recent months.

Christian Coleman’s ambitions lose their footing…

Coleman’s 2024 leading up to the Olympic Team Trials wasn’t too shabby. He won a gold medal at the Xiamen Diamond League earlier this year and also managed to leave Noah Lyles behind at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow to win the men’s 60m gold.

His confidence justifiably got a boost with these victories, and he even went on to claim that the current generation of sprinters can dethrone Usain Bolt’s record. While he didn’t mention himself as one of the contenders to do so, his hint didn’t go amiss and fans flocked with their sneering comments about the 2023 World Championship gold medalist’s remarks.

However, Coleman looked to have created a protective shield around himself to keep his head in the game with the Olympics looming overhead. Then, at last month’s NFL Combine, Christian also broke the Jamaican’s 60m-dash record set in 2019 to show how he meant business. Despite that, he fumbled when it really mattered.

But all hope might not be lost yet. Coleman also mentioned in May that he will be looking to make it to the mean’s 200m team as well. The 200m race will have its 1st round on June 27, with the semi-final to follow the next day. Now, with one window closing on Coleman, it remains to be seen if he has what it takes to open the door to another. What do you think?