With the 2024 track and field season almost nearing its end, the world has witnessed top athletes such as Noah Lyles, Kishane Thompson, and Fred Kerley, among other notable names make headlines in the 100m, often referred to as the event which determines the title for the ‘world’s fastest athlete’.
Previously dominated by the eight-time Olympic gold medalist and legendary Usain Bolt, let’s look at the top 5 fastest male sprinters for the 2024 season.
Top 5 fastest male sprinters of the 2024 season
#5 Fred Kerley
Fred Kerley saved his best performance of the season for the 100m finals at the Paris Olympics. He clocked a swift 9.81s in the finals to bag his second successive medal in the event at the Olympics.
The three-time world champion added a bronze medal to his Olympic collection, which previously included a silver medal from Tokyo, held in 2021.
#4 Oblique Seville
Oblique Seville registered his personal best by clocking a sensational 9.81s in the semifinals of the Paris Olympics. This timing also secured him a spot in the 100m finals. However, despite clocking 9.91 seconds, he couldn't replicate his earlier dominance and finished eighth.
Nevertheless, his time of 9.81s made him the fourth-fastest male sprinter this season along with Kerley.
#3 Ferdinand Omanyala
Ferdinand Omanyala, the African record holder in the 100m, stands second in the list of the quickest timing this season, clocking a 9.79s. He ran this timing in the finals of the Kenyan National Trials that determined the team for the Paris Olympics in a legal +1.5 wind conditions.
#2 Noah Lyles
Alongside Omanyala, Noah Lyles has recorded the second-fastest time in the 2024 season which he achieved at the grandest stage of the Paris Olympics. Lyles surpassed his personal best to land himself in the top position on the podium.
However, it was a nail-biting contest as both Lyles and Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson recorded the same time (9.79s) but the former's torso crossed the edge of the finish line first, thus making him the Olympic champion.
#1 Kishane Thompson
Although Kishane Thompson (.789) had to settle for the silver medal at the Paris Olympics after losing to Noah Lyles (.784) in the finals, he is still the quickest male sprinter of the 2024 season.
He accomplished the feat in the finals of the Jamaican National Championships by recording a phenomenal 9.77s, also a new personal best, to secure his berth in Jamaica’s squad for the quadrennial Games.