The Jamaica and USA rivalry might never die in track and field. A year ago, Lyles edged Thompson by just .005 sec in the 100m final in Paris, and they haven’t faced each other since.

Recently, in an interview, the Jamaican had said, “I’m a very competitive person. I might not show it, but when it comes to competing with a phenomenal person, I think he’s a phenomenal athlete,  great rival. So, yeah, of course, when he’s ready to step back on the track and we meet, it’s going to be fireworks for sure.” And there was a chance that this face-off almost happened. Both Thompson and Lyles were coming to the 2025 Prefontaine Classic.

But then the Olympic gold medalist had to pull out of the race because of the injury he did not want to take a risk with. The silver medalist claimed victory with a time of 9.85 seconds, outpacing a competitive field that included Zharnel Hughes and Trayvon Bromell, who finished second and third. So, while fans thought they could see a rematch of the 100m Paris Olympic finals only in the Tokyo World Athletics Championships in September, Christmas came early for sprinting enthusiasts.

It’s finally happening. Perhaps the most awaited face-off since the 100m finals of the Paris Olympics, and that too before the Worlds. Track & Field Gazette announced the lineup for the Silesia Diamond League yesterday, on August 9th.

They wrote, “Men’s 100m entries Silesia Diamond League — 🇺🇸 Noah Lyles, 🇯🇲 Kishane Thompson, 🇺🇸 Kenny Bednarek, 🇺🇸 Trayvon Bromell, 🇿🇦 Akani Simbine, 🇺🇸 Christian Coleman, 🇺🇸 Courtney Lindsey, 🇯🇲 Ackeem Blake, 🇵🇱 Oliwer Wdowik — August 16th.”

The 2025 Silesia Diamond League is scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 16, at the Silesian Stadium (also known as Stadion Śląski) in Chorzów, Poland. And fans are excited: “Kishane for the win 9.79 Lyles runs 9.86 for 3rd.”

But the 100m will not be matched for just Lyles and Thompson. Kenny Bednarek is also a part of this equation. Bednarek competed in the men’s 100-meter final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He finished in seventh place with a time of 9.88 seconds. And fans don’t seem to be counting on him for the win. 

In the poll posted on X, asking who would win, Kenny received the lowest number of votes (6.6%) among Noah, Kishane, and others. Noah Lyles got a total of 21.3%. The fans are putting a lot of faith in the Jamaican, giving him a big lead with 62.5% of the votes in his favor. That is almost ten times that of Kenny and thrice that of Noah.

Fans hype Kishane Thompson ahead of Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek

To start with, the lineup is stacked. This fan is not wrong to say, “Absolute cinema. This one is up in the air between kishane and Noah I genuinely don’t know who might win but never count Noah out fr!” The Jamaican has only lost one 100m race this season, and the American has only raced one 100m this season. While it is going to be an interesting battle, Kenny was not even counted.

The track and field community will not make the mistake of putting the odds against Lyles again after they did so in the race against Lestile Tebogo. One fan mentioned, “This lineup is STACKED! I think Kishane is the majority favorite to win but, I get this inkling that Simbine can pull off a surprise upset that’ll shock everyone.” Simbine had an undefeated season before racing in London, where he finished 5th. Akani Simbine also edged out Kishane Thompson in a photo finish, clocking 9.98 seconds to Thompson’s 9.99 seconds. And in this discussion as well, Kenny is missing.

“Noah should run 9.8 in this race but it’ll only be good enough for 3rd or 4th. We could see low 9.7 from 2 ppl in this race 👀” marked another user. One of the biggest highlights of this season will be Kishane Thompson clocking 9.75s in the finals of the JAAA Championships – the fastest legal time clocked by any athlete in almost the past 10 years. Who could be the other one? Well, Kenny Bednarek clocked 9.79 seconds at the USA Track & Field Championships in the 100m finals.

Then one user pointed out, “This is like a world championship or Olympic final. A great test for everyone to see where they stand.” This is what more or less the field would look like in Tokyo, and no matter what, fans are excited.