American sprinter Noah Lyles wins his first Olympic gold in the epic men's 100m final

Noah Lyles finally has his Olympic gold medal.

After doing the talking and dominating at world championships last year, the Gainesville, Florida, native is now leading by example, having won the men's 100-meter final on Sunday in Paris.

Lyles crossed the finish line in a personal best of 9.79784 seconds, winning by five thousandths of a second (it will officially go on the books as 9.80).

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Noah Lyles of Team USA celebrates winning the gold medal after competing in the Men's 100m Final on day nine of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France on August 4, 2024 in Paris, France. (Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

It took a lengthy photo review to officially crown Lyles the champion, as he watched intently alongside Jamaican Kishane Thompson, whom the broadcast deemed the winner at a glance.

When the result was official, it had seven words:

“America, I told you, I'm next!”

Lyles then draped an American flag over his shoulders for a well-deserved and very long victory lap: American Fred Kerley took bronze in 9.81.

Lyles is the first American to win the event at the Olympics since Justin Gatlin in 2004. It is the fifth gold medal won by Americans on Sunday (golfer Scottie Scheffler, cyclist Kristen Faulkner, swimmer Bobby Finke and the women's 4×100 medley relay team).

The 27-year-old ran 9.83 seconds in the semi-final, automatically qualifying by finishing second in that race. On Saturday he received some criticism for finishing second in a heat, saying his “plan” was to finish first from then on. That didn’t happen, but that will all be forgotten now as he finished first when it mattered most.

Of course, some will argue that he earned the hate himself when he joked that NBA champions have no right to call themselves world champions. That comment alone has made American sports fans hate him as much as they love him, or maybe more. But maybe this win can turn that around.

U.S. WOMEN'S 4x100M MEDLE RELAY TEAM WINS GOLD AND SETS WORLD RECORD IN FINAL OLYMPIC SWIMMING EVENT OF PARIS GAMES

Lyles will now focus on the 200 metres (he has said his “dream goal” is to beat Usain Bolt's world record of 19.19) and the 4x100m relay. It is not yet known whether he will take part in the 4x400m relay, but he was part of the team that won the silver medal at this year's world indoor championships.

In an interview with Fox News Digital in March, Lyles said a friend told him: “Forget about three, you have to go after four. Do something that no one has ever done before.”

“When you want to talk about being the best, that's what you have to achieve. That's why I announced that that's one of my goals to accomplish; why not do it on the biggest stage, the Olympic Games?” Lyles said of a possible fourth Olympic event.

Track and field legend Carl Lewis recently told Fox News Digital that the sport “needs” Lyles to dominate these games.

“I think the sport needs someone like him, who is a champion. He's the defending champion, the fastest man in the world right now, and we need someone to hold on to. I think he's the perfect guy to do it, and I'm excited about that,” Lewis told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

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“I think athletics is better when we have a superstar. So I think if Noah were to win, it would also raise the level of the sport. Instead of saying, 'I wonder who's going to win,' people would rather say, 'I want it' or 'I don't want it.' They either want to root for someone or they don't. I think it creates more intensity when you have someone who's dominant, and that's been true throughout history… People have been drawn to the sport when people were more dominant.”

One less, at least two to go.

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