The Peninsula Times - Thompson beats Lyles in first 100m head-to-head since Paris Olympics

It was the first time the two sprinters have met since Lyles was awarded Olympic gold in Paris a year ago, just five-thousandths of a second ahead of Thompson.

The fast-starting Jamaican timed a joint meet record of 9.87sec for victory in the Polish city of Chorzow, with Lyles second in 9.90sec. Another American, Kenny Bednarek, rounded out the podium in 9.96sec.

"It felt alright. My job is to get the job done," said Thompson.

The Jamaican, who missed the cut for the 2023 world championships in Budapest, will be one of the favourites for this year's edition in Tokyo on September 13-21.

But he downplayed the significance of the result.

"Honestly, I compete against myself, no offence to the competition," he said.

Lyles was drawn in lane seven, outside Bednarek and inside fellow American Christian Coleman, with Thompson in five, South African Akani Simbine to his left.

But it was Thompson who stole the march in hot and humid conditions, rocketing out of his blocks to leave the field in his wake for a true gun-to-tape display.

Lyles had the joint slowest reaction of the nine-man line-up and looked out of even a podium finish from the start before coming through strongly over the closing 20 metres to pinch second from Bednarek.

Thompson's winning time matched the 9.87sec meet record jointly held by Americans Ronnie Baker and Fred Kerley.

It did not quite match the world-leading 9.75sec he set at the Jamaican trials in June, a time which puts him sixth on the all-time list.

(P.Mbatha--TPT)