Athletics legend Michael Johnson described it as the greatest 100m race of all time as American Noah Lyles won the men’s 100m at the Paris Olympics on Sunday by the slimmest of margins.

Lyles won by five-thousandths of a second ahead of Jamaican Kishane Thompson and bronze medallist Fred Kerley. South African legend Akani Simbine finished fourth.

Here are the facts you need to know about one of the most remarkable 100m finals in Olympic history.

• It was the closest 100m final in history

• Lyles and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo had the slowest reaction times of 0.178 against the fastest starter Fred Kerley, who took 0.108. Simbine was third fastest out the blocks in 0.149
• Lyles reached the highest top speed of 43.6 km/h. Simbine was the second fastest at 43.3km/h
• All eight finalists finished in under 10 seconds and positions 4-8 were the fastest times ever recorded for those positions
• Simbine’s time of 9.82 seconds was a new South African record bettering his own 9.84 set in 2021
• Simbine missed out on the bronze medal by 0.01 seconds
• Simbine has taken part in three Olympic 100m finals and finished fifth in Rio in 2016 and fourth in Tokyo (2021) and Paris
• Simbine has taken part in three World Championship finals finishing fifth (2017), fourth (2019) and fifth (2022)
• It was Lyle’s first Olympic gold and the USA’s first 100m gold since Justin Gatlin’s win in 2004. The USA has won 17 of the 29 men’s gold medals in the 100m.

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