How Noah Lyles won 100m gold despite Jamaican rival's foot crossing line first in race

Last night's (4 August) men's 100m final certainly felt like one of the best track and field events in Olympic history.

The eight finalists endured an agonising delay to the start of their race after a failed track invasion from a spectator just moments before it was due to begin, which meant that emotions were already running high by time the athletes were able to take their starting position.

Things weren't looking good for Team USA's Noah Lyles in the first seconds, with the American languishing in last place with just under half of the race gone.

US runner Noah Lyles had an astounding comeback in order to clinch gold. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

However the final moments of the race would see Lyles have a massive reverse of fortunes, with the athlete powering past all other competitors to snag gold with just 0.05 seconds to spare.

Jamaica's Kishane Thompson was right behind him in second, while defending Tokyo 2020 champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs found himself all the way back in fifth.

The final was also the fastest race of all time, with all eight athletes crossing the finish line in under 10 seconds.

So close. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

How was Noah Lyles able to win gold?

The final moments of the race were so close that it was almost impossible to tell who'd won from our TV screens at home. If anything, it appeared that Thompson had gotten his foot further over the finish line.

So how did Lyles win Olympic gold?

It's true that Thompson's foot crossed the finish line before Lyles, however the winner is decided by whose chest first crosses the line - with Lyles' leaning ever so slightly further forward being just enough to seal the deal.

As per The Telegraph, his final time was recorded at 9.79784 while Thompson had a time of 9.79789, with the microscopic five thousandths of a second being the only thing to separate gold and silver.

Truly phenomenal stuff.

The winner was decided not by Thompson's foot, but instead Lyles' chest. (Rodolfo Buhrer/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

The race was even declared the greatest ever final by four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson, who said it was 'absolutely' the best he'd ever seen.

"The final lived up to the hype," he said in a post-race interview with the BBC. "Going through the rounds it looked like a foregone conclusion that Kishane Thompson would win as he was the one who came in as the fastest man in the world.

"We had this amazing race where you could throw a blanket over the finishing line.

"We didn't even know who won for a few minutes."