Historic race: fastest and closest men's 100m finish at Paris Olympics

As well as being the closest 100m final in Olympic history, it was also the fastest men’s 100m final in history, with all eight men breaking 10 seconds for the first time ever at the Paris Olympics.

Team SA’s Simbine took fourth in 9.82 seconds, with Fred Kerley grabbing the bronze medal in 9.81. Noah Lyles claimed gold in 9.79 ahead of Jamaican Kishane Thompson in the same time - ahead by just five one thousandths of a second.

It was the closest 1-2 finish since the 1980 Olympics - and possibly ever since the technology did not previously exist to separate such small margins.

Simbine did, however, pick up his first Olympic medal in the men’s 4x100m relay, alongside Bayanda Walaza, Shaun Maswanganyi, and Bradley Nkoana.

Since the Olympics, Walaza has continued to rise up the sprinting ranks.

Walaza stormed to victory in an SA Under-20 record as he clocked 9.99 seconds in the Gauteng North Provincial Championships over the weekend.

The 19-year-old became the ninth SA sprinter to dip below the 10-second mark and improved the previous Under-20 record of 10.03 held by Nkoana.

After the Olympics, Walaza would go on to win the 100m and 200m titles at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Lima.

@Michael_Sherman

IOL Sport