Noah Lyles secured Olympic immortality by the slimmest margin possible. In a breathtaking final in Paris, Lyles and Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson tore through the line in identical 9.79-second finishes. But only one would wear the crown. A painstaking photo review revealed Lyles’s torso beat Thompson’s by five-thousandths of a second, just enough to end a two-decade American drought in the men’s 100 meters. It was a finish that stunned the stadium and immediately earned its place in sprinting history. And now, that razor-thin victory seems to have inspired an unlikely echo back home.
In a different race, on a different day, Gabby Thomas found herself caught in a nearly identical dilemma. The reigning Olympic 200-meter silver medalist arrived in Eugene with expectations, but her final sprint wasn’t a coronation. Instead, it became a test of precision and poise. As Melissa Jefferson-Wooden dominated the field and stormed to a stunning personal best of 21.84 seconds, becoming the first woman since 2003 to complete the 100m–200m double, Thomas was locked in a dead heat behind her. Three women crossed the line at 22.20 seconds. The World Championships berth would not go to the fastest finisher, but to the most exact one.
In the end, Thomas edged out Brittany Brown and McKenzie Long by margins invisible to the naked eye. Her reaction time, 0.197 seconds, was just one-thousandth of a second quicker than Brown’s 0.198. Long followed at 0.199. Officials needed frame-by-frame camera analysis to determine the final order. What emerged from the review mirrored Lyles’s Olympic moment: a desperate lean, the advantage of muscle memory, and a finishing torso that arrived just soon enough to avoid disaster.
The race had already been explosive from the gun. Jefferson-Wooden’s acceleration was undeniable, her 10.65-second 100-meter credentials translating cleanly to the curve and straight. Anavia Battle managed to keep the gap respectable, finishing second in 22.13. But behind them, chaos ensued. Thomas, Brown, and Long charged the final 40 meters in unison. For the defending Olympic champion, anything less than qualification would have been an unthinkable setback. She bent at the waist just as Lyles had in Paris, knowing instinctively that the race would be decided not by talent but by geometry.
Olympic champ Gabby Thomas leans for final world championship spot in crazy photo finish!
22.20 (.197) – Gabby Thomas
22.20 (.198) – Brittany Brown
22.20 (.199) – McKenzie Long pic.twitter.com/9IEGmbk1Qw
— Travis Miller (@travismillerx13) August 3, 2025
Ultimately, it was not the margin of victory but the margin of survival that mattered. Gabby Thomas’s narrow escape ensured her place in the American contingent bound for the World Championships. Her finish, like Lyles’s in Paris, reminded the athletics world of what it takes to compete at the very top. Not just speed, but precision under pressure.
This is a developing story…
The post Gabby Thomas Uses Noah Lyles’ Viral Olympic Move to Escape Disappointment for World Championships appeared first on EssentiallySports.
