World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe said on Monday that newly crowned Olympic sprint king Noah Lyles has given a boost to the sport not seen since the glory years of Usain Bolt, and was on course to fill the void created by the departure of the Jamaican icon, the eight-time Olympic gold medallist who 
retired in 2017. 

“Him [Lyles] winning was important because he’s now creating a narrative that is heading us back into the Usain Bolt territory,” Coe said, adding that Lyles’s win by just 0.005sec—the narrowest margin of victory in a 100m final in modern Olympics—had demonstrated his greatness.