On Sunday, we were treated to the greatest 100m race in Olympics history. All eight finalists qualified with a time of under 10 seconds, and all eight men finished within 0.12 seconds of the gold medal. The final distance between gold and silver, which had to go to a photo finish, was five-thousandths of a second.
The man who nipped the others at the line was American Noah Lyles. The “World’s Fastest Man” up until Sunday’s race was Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson. He had to settle for second place, ceding the coveted title to Lyles.
“I did think [Thompson] had it at the end,” said Lyles. “I went up to him while we were waiting and said, ‘I think you’ve got that, good going’, and then my name popped up and I’m like ‘oh my gosh, I’m amazing.’”
Thompson was the natural and national fit to be the heir to Usain Bolt. But it’s Lyles that is now positioned to dominate the sprints at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The most difficult in his quest to win three gold medals at these games was the 100m, and he now has that win. Up next is the 200m, and he is the defending world champion in that event.
The men’s 200m preliminaries are underway, with the finals set to be run on Thursday. Lyles is the heavy favorite to win his second gold medal, paying -650. American Kenneth Bednarek, who missed the medal stand in the 100m, is the second betting favorite to win the 200m at +600. He’s -400 to finish on the medal stand. Third is Letsile Tebogo of Botswana at +800. He finished sixth in the 100m.
On Thursday, the United States will also begin the preliminary rounds of the 4×100 relay, which will feature Lyles. The U.S. is the favorite at -330. Jamaica is next +250, followed by Italy at +900.
Novak Djokovic Wins Golden Slam
The last time Novak Djokovic played at Roland Garros, he tore his meniscus and needed surgery. The last time he faced Carlos Alcarez in a final (Wimbledon), he was dominated. The 37-year-old Serbian wiped out both of those memories by winning the gold medal in men’s singles tennis in straight sets over Alcarez, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).
“This kind of supersedes everything that I imagined, hoped, that I could experience and that I could feel,” said Djokovic. “When I take everything in consideration, this probably is the biggest sporting success I’ve ever had in my career.”
That is quite the statement, considering that Djokovic has been ranked No. 1 in the world for a record 428 weeks over the course of 13 years, which is also the most in history. He’s a 24-time Grand Slam singles champion, and now he is an Olympic champion. He is just the fifth player in history to win the Golden Slam (all four Grand Slams and the Olympics), joining Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams.
The title of world’s best tennis player had seemingly been handed to Alcarez, the silver medalist in Paris. At just 21-years-old, he won the French Open this year and defended his title at Wimbledon. He was also the winner tw years ago of the U.S. Open. But Djokovic is the defending U.S. Open champion, and if all goes well at Flushing Meadows, we will be treated to another showdown between these two in a month.
Alcarez is the betting favorite to win the 2024 U.S. Open at +120. Djokovic is second at +220. Italian Jannik Sinner, a semifinalist at the French Open and Wimbledon this year and the champion of the Australian Open, is paying +240.
Italian Lorenzo Musetti was the bronze medal winner in Paris, but he is well down the odds board for the U.S. Open, paying +10000.
With over 25 years of experience as a distinguished sports writer for renowned platforms such as Fox Sports and ESPN, Kyle Garlett is a sports betting specialist who has been at the forefront of documenting the global surge in sports betting and online gaming. Based in Denver, Colorado, Kyle hosts an NFL betting YouTube show and podcast. Kyle also has two sports books published by HarperCollins.
Kyle graduated the Azusa Pacific University in 1996 with a B.A. Degree in Communication and Journalism.
