Legendary Announcer Leigh Diffey Never Saw Noah Lyles Coming In Insane 100M Dash Final Comeback

Getty Image / Ian MacNicol

The 100-Meter Dash is one of the most anticipated events of every Summer Olympics, no matter if it’s the men’s or women’s race.  This year’s men’s final was one of the absolute best and closest in Olympic history, needing a photo finish to decide the winner.

That winner ended up being the USA’s Noah Lyles, who edged Jamaican Kishane Thompson at the line by 5 thousandths of a second in a time of 9.79. But, the legendary play-by-play man Leigh Diffey never saw Lyles coming, completely screwing up the call of the race.

Noah Lyles, who is trying to accomplish the prestigious 100M-200M double, got off to a slow start in the race, and looked out of gold medal contention halfway. But, an incredible second-half of the race won him the gold medal. 

But, listen to the call of Leigh Diffey. He never saw Noah Lyles coming until it was too late. American Fred Kerley was stride for stride with Thompson the entire race, and that’s apparently where his eyes went as the race went on.

As Thompson crossed the line, out-leaning Kerley, Diffey thought that Thompson had won, exclaiming “Kishane Thompson is a gold medalist!” 

But, that’s not what had happened. Noah Lyles had hawked Thompson down. In fact, it wasn’t until Lyles went crazy upon seeing the result on the screen inside the Stade de France that Diffey realized what had just happened.

That was a really tough race to call, as the race happens fast enough to begin with, and a late comeback like that can come out of nowhere But, I’m sure that Leigh Diffey would like to have one of the biggest race calls of his life back.

As for Lyles, he is much closer now to winning that double. If he does it, he will be the first American to accomplish it since Carl Lewis in 1984.   Preliminaries in the 200m, his better event of the two, start on Monday with the final being held on Thursday at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.