The fastest man in the world comes from the USA. World champion Noah Lyles is the Olympic champion in the 100 metres. The 27-year-old from the USA sprinted to gold in Saint-Denis near Paris in front of 70,000 spectators in the final in 9.79 seconds. Lyles is the first 100 metre Olympic champion from the USA since Justin Gatlin won gold 20 years ago in Athens.

Silver went to Jamaican shooting star Kishane Thompson, who clocked 9.79 seconds and only missed out on gold by a thousandth of a second. Bronze went to Fred Kerley from the USA in 9.81 seconds.

However, gold medallist sprinter Noah Lyles cannot match Usain Bolt’s records.

The Jamaican made history in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 when he became the first 100-metre sprinter to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games three times in a row. He ran the 100 metres in Rio in 9.81 seconds, a time that Lyles has now beaten in Paris. However, Bolt was significantly faster in Beijing 2008 (9.69 seconds) and London 2012 (9.63 seconds).

In 1980, Britain’s Allan Wells was the last sprinter to win the gold medal by more than 10 seconds.

The first Olympic 100 metre champion, Tom Burke, took 12 seconds to cover the distance in 1896 – which today would be more than 20 metres behind Bolt at the finish line.

This development is due to constantly improving equipment, nutrition and training methods.

In the early days of the 100-metre race, the time was still stopped by hand and the clocks were only accurate to tenths of a second. The first electric timekeeping took place in 1932, but only as an experiment. Officially, the hand-stopped times were used. It was not until 1972 that the electronic, more accurate version of timekeeping was officially introduced – one of the reasons why the times became somewhat slower again. In 1984, Carl Lewis was the first sprinter to stay under 10 seconds, even with electronics. Since then, no 100-metre winner at the Olympics has stayed above this magic mark.

Women: Griffith-Joyner unrivalled

A new face became Olympic champion in the women’s event on Saturday evening: Julien Alfred from the small Caribbean state of St Lucia, who only turned professional last year, won gold in 10.72 seconds. She beat the big favourite and world champion Sha’Carri Richardson (USA, 10.87), while her team-mate Melissa Jefferson won bronze (10.92).

Florence Griffith-Joyner remains the Olympic record holder with 10.54 seconds. No one has yet come close to the then 35-year-old’s controversial victory in the 100 metres in 1988.

How fast can people get? A few years before Usain Bolt’s records, it was assumed that nobody would run the 100 metres in under 9.7 seconds. This prediction was wrong. Some sports scientists then hypothesised that the theoretical limit could be well under 9 seconds per 100 metres. Other researchers, however, believe that an evolutionary limit has been reached, as with age and height.