- World 100m champion qualifies for Olympics.
World champion Noah Lyles won the 100m at the US Olympic trials to qualify for this summer’s Games in Paris.
Lyles, who missed out on the 100m at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after finishing seventh at the trials, equalled his personal best of 9.83 seconds in Eugene, Oregon.
Kenny Bednarek, who was second in 9.87, and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Fred Kerley, who was third in 9.88, also qualified.
“Three years ago I got second to last. This year I came and won it,” said Lyles, who ran a wind-assisted 9.80 in the semi-finals.
“Part of the plan. Nothing changed. Might be a shock to everybody else, but when you know the goal, you know the goal.”
Lyles’ 200m bronze in Tokyo remains his only Olympic medal.
“If I didn’t get that third place in Tokyo, I wouldn’t have had that desire. I wouldn’t have had that fire burning. I wouldn’t have accomplished what I have accomplished in the past,” he said.
“Now we constantly look to the future with open eyes because anything can happen.”
2019 world champion Christian Coleman missed out after finishing fourth, while Sam Kendricks won the pole vault by clearing a meet record 5.92m.
In the 400m, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson ran 44.59 to break his own under-18 world record to qualify from his semi-final.
The Olympics run from 26 July to 11 August, with the men’s 100m final on 4 August.
