Noah Lyles entered the Paris Olympics as most people’s favorite for the gold medal in the 100m category. The athlete had won the World Championship in Budapest running at a time of 9.83 seconds the previous year and the London Diamond League at 9.81. Thus, looking at his penchant for winning international competitions, everyone finally expected him to win the Olympic gold.

However, a segment of the track community supported another athlete over Lyles. They believed that Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson had the potential to pull off an upset. In his country’s Olympic trials, Thompson clocked a personal best of 9.77 seconds, which was 0.04 seconds faster than Noah Lyles’ best time. This led many to believe that Thompson could secure victory over the American sprinter in Paris. In fact, the latest documentary reveals that Thompson was fully focused on claiming the gold medal at the Olympics.

Kishane Thompson was ready for Noah Lyles’s challenge at the Olympics

In the Sprint Documentary Season 2 Episode 3, Kishane Thompson talked about his Olympic ambitions and how he views Noah Lyles as a competitor. “My goal for the Olympics is to of course win the gold medal, and I will put myself out there to do that,” he said. The Jamaican was very clear on this topic. He had not come to Paris to play around but instead to be a legitimate competitor for the gold medal.

But the athlete was also very aware of who would be his biggest obstacle to his goal. “My biggest rival is Noah Lyles. He is the world champion,” said Kishane. He knew that after Noah’s victory at the 2023 World Championships, the US athlete was the man to beat and definitely the favorite for the 100m gold. However, the Jamaican declared that he was not scared of him either. “I won’t be intimidated. Man, that hypes me up,” he quipped.

Thus, it seemed that he was ready to fight against Noah Lyles for the 100-meter gold that he desired to have. Of course, most know what happened next. In the 100-meter race, Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson gave an incredible performance, finishing in 9.79 seconds. But, eventually, Noah was the one who was declared the winner as he crossed the finish line 0.05 seconds before the Jamaican. However, Kishane Thompson’s performance really showed what the athlete is really capable of. It seems that the future is quite bright for him too, as he has taken a lot of input from his narrow defeat in Paris.

Kishane Thompson’s learnings after defeat to Noah Lyles at the Paris Olympics

In the aftermath of his narrow defeat to Noah Lyles, Kishane Thompson had been quite gracious and said, “I gained a lot of experience running with all these great competitors.” After this, he admitted to making mistakes and knew what he had to improve on. But, after having time to reflect more on the race, Kishane now believes that he has learned things that would help him further his career.

He now believes that he must be more patient with himself in these heartbreaking occasions where he loses very close races. He talked about another thing he learned, saying, “The second thing is I need to understand that the last part of the race is the most complicated, and the third is when it’s such a close final, I have to big up myself even more.” Once he applies these learnings to the track, Kishane Thompson will probably be a better athlete than he was at the Olympics.

The thought of him being better is quite dangerous, as the Jamaican is already one of the best in the world in the 100m category. Now, all he has to do is bounce back mentally after Noah Lyles’s defeat. As he withdrew from the Diamond League events after the Olympics, fans haven’t seen him come back to the track yet. Hopefully, he could showcase his talent again at the Tokyo World Championships next year.