Having talked the talk, the 26-year-old from Gainesville, Florida has walked the walk – all the way to the finish.
He brought the stick home in 37.38, the fastest time recorded this year, although two perilous exchanges after Christian Coleman had got the team off to an expected smart start – between last year’s 100m champion Fred Kerley and Brandon Carnes, and then between the latter and Lyles, almost spoiled the party.
Italy – fielding three of the four men who earned them the Olympic title in Tokyo two years ago in individual Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs, Lorenzo Patta and Filippo Tortu – kept Lyles on point as they came home for silver in 37.62.
“This is the third gold for me here.” Lyles said. “It’s sensational, amazing. You can’t do better. It’s out of control.
“I love Team USA because everybody is coming here thinking ‘I’m going to win’. We’re able to put that into a team effort and then we’re unstoppable.
“The individual races are all business but the team is fun. We all know we are fast. We don’t have to worry about whether we are going to win. It is just about getting the stick around and trusting each other. It’s fun to do this. I don’t put pressure on myself. Right now I’m happy, but I’m joyful for life.”
Bronze went to the Jamaican quartet of Ackeem Blake, Oblique Seville, Rylem Forde and Rohan Watson, who clocked 37.76 to finish 0.04 clear of a British team – consisting of Jeremiah Azu, Zharnel Hughes, Adam Gemili and Eugene Amo-Dadzie – that looked thoroughly gutted by this turn of events.
“This is a new generation and we are proud to bring home the bronze,” said Seville. “Sprinting in Jamaica is at a really high level and we have a sprinting legacy. We all want to do sprints, and we have really competitive athletes in the team.
“This medal gives us extra motivation for the upcoming Olympic Games. We want to continue to deliver medals for Jamaica.”
Japan finished fifth in 37.83 and France sixth in 38.06, while South Africa did not finish and Brazil were disqualified.
