NBC's Leigh Diffey Addresses Botched Call of Noah Lyles-Kishane Thompson Photo Finish

NBC Sports announcer Leigh Diffey addressed the confusion that stemmed from the photo finish in the men's 100-meter dash final.

Diffey said Monday on X he "got it wrong" when he thought Jamaica's Kishane Thompson edged out American Noah Lyles, who was declared the winner after track officials examined the final order:

In Diffey's defense, it was all but impossible to identify the winner with the naked eye in real-time. Even slow-motion replays were difficult to parse with just 0.005 separating Lyles and Thompson.

Lyles himself was mentally prepared for a silver medal as soon as he crossed the finish line.

"They're all experts after it's over, right? I trusted my eyes and instinct and got it wrong by .005 seconds," Diffey said to the Associated Press' Jenna Fryer.

The general uncertainty about who won didn't make for great television, though. Lyles' triumph felt a little anticlimactic because all of the drama was unfolding off the screen. Viewers became aware of the outcome only when Lyles started celebrating on the track rather than anything conveyed by the NBC broadcast team.

Still, fans had ample time afterward to celebrate the 27-year-old becoming the first American male sprinter since Justin Gatlin in 2004 to take the gold in the 100-meter dash.