Oblique Seville believes he is the man to bring back Jamaica’s glory days in the men’s 100-metre dash after dismissing Olympic champion Noah Lyles convincingly in rainy conditions, with a very impressive 9.87 (-0.3 m/s) clocking at the Lausanne Wanda Diamond League on Wednesday (August 20).

Seville running in treacherous conditions, left the blocks like a bullet and cantered home well clear of Lyles in 10.02s. Jamaica’s Ackeem Blake was third also in 10.02s.

Akini Simbini of South Africa was fourth in 10.05s, just ahead of Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes in 10.09s.

Seville, who defeated Lyles in London in June, has thrown down the gauntlet with another fantastic display and strengthened Jamaica’s medal prospects as Kishane Thompson also defeated Lyles last Saturday.

“Running 9.87 in those conditions shows I can go much faster, anywhere in the world, that’s a good time,” said Seviile.

 He continued: “I’ve beaten the Olympic Champion twice, in London and here, and that gives me a lot of confidence heading into the championships. It’s been a while since a Jamaican man has won the 100m at a global championship, and of course, I believe I can be the one to do it”.

Lyles, who must now be worried losing to the two Jamaicans in four days plus the margins of defeats, admitted he needs to tweak something.

“I just had a horrible reaction to the gun. That was the only thing wrong. Technically, I felt good, my warm-up was good, but once you miss the start at this level, the race is basically over,” Lyles pointed out.

“Physically I feel great, and I am confident every race will get better and better. The goal is to sharpen the details, especially my drive phase and my start, heading to Tokyo and the World Championships,” he added.

There was some encouragement for Blake, as he was just pipped on the line from making it a quinella for Jamaica, finishing third with the same time as the Olympic champion.

“Given the climate, I just put my focus on the execution of my race and I’m pleased with the time I ran today. This was good preparation for the World Championships,” said Blake.

Meanwhile, Jamaican fans had more to cheer about as the defected Wayne Pinnock was beaten by the loyal Jamaicans Tajay Gayle and Carey McLeod in the long jump.

Pinnock, who won silver for Jamaica at the last World Championship and the Olympic Games in 2024 and has now switched allegiance to Turkiye, could only leap 7.61m, which was good for fifth.

Jamaica’s 2019 World champion Tajay Gayle was third with 7.71m and McLeod fourth with 7.67m. The event was won by Anvar Anvarov of Uzbekistan with a leap of 7.84m ahead of Simon Ehammer of Switzerland with 7.72m.

Jamaica’s two competitors, Ackera Nugent and Megan Tapper were fourth and seventh in the women’s 100 hurdles in 12.57 and 13.06 seconds. The event was won by Nadine Visser of the Netherlands in 12.45 ahead of American Masai Russell in 12.53.