Fastest man in the word

Who is the fastest person in the world? Top 10 ranked in 2023

The fastest person in the world has incredible stamina and speed. These abilities are vital in highly competitive and intense sprinting events. The athlete must cover the shortest possible distance at the most incredible pace to break the world’s record. Discover the fastest person in the world and his top speed below.

The fastest runners in the world usually delight fans by winning several medals in each international competition. This article lists the top 10 fastest people in history based on their top speeds in 100-metre and 200-metre sprint races.

Historical statistics in short sprint races reveal that the world’s fastest runners are mostly African-Americans and Jamaicans. Below is a list of the top 10 fastest people in 2023 and the best speeds in the 100-meter dash races.

10. Richard Thompson — 9.82 seconds (100m dash)

• Full name: Richard «Torpedo» Thompson
• Born: 7 June 1985
• Age: 37 years (as of February 2023)
• Birthplace: Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
• Nationality: Trinidadian
• Height: 188 cm
• Weight: 80 kg
• Event(s): 60 meters, 100 metres, 200 metres
• Personal best: 9.82 s (100m in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, in 2014) and 20.18 s (200m in Fayetteville, United States, in 2008)

Track & field athlete, Richard Thompson, is a sprinter specializing in 100 meters. He catapulted to popularity after coming second to Usain Bolt at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and winning a bronze medal. In 2014, Thompson was the eighth fastest sprinter in Port of Spain. His personal best of 9.82 seconds in June 2014 is among the top ten fastest of all time and a national record. Richard holds the record of the fourth fastest time by a Trinidad and Tobago athlete in the 200 meters races.

9. Steve Mullings — 9.80 seconds (100m dash)

• Full name: Steve Mullings
• Born: 28 November 1982
• Age: 40 years (as of February 2023)
• Birthplace: St. Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica
• Nationality: Jamaican
• Height: 176 cm
• Weight: 67 kg
• Event(s): 60 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres
• Personal best: 9.80 s (100m in Eugene, Oregon, in 2011) and 19.98 s (200m in Berlin in 2009)

Jamaican former sprint athlete Steve Mullings also makes this list of the world’s fastest runners. He specializes in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Steve raced the 100 meters in 9.8 seconds, placing him among the world’s top ten fastest runners. In 2011, he got a lifetime ban for doping.

8. Maurice Greene — 9.79 seconds (100m dash)

• Full name: Maurice Greene
• Born: 23 July 1974
• Age: 48 years (as of February 2023)
• Birthplace: Kansas City, Kansas, United States
• Nationality: American
• Height: 176 cm
• Weight: 82 kg
• Event(s): 50 meters, 60 meters, 100 metres, 200 metres
• Personal best: 9.79 s (100m in Athens, Greece, in 1999) and 19.86 s (200m in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1997)

The former American track & field athlete, Maurice Greene, has won five Olympic medals, two of which are gold. He held the record for six years until 2005. Greene was the fastest sprinter five times in his early career, collecting five Olympic gold medals and setting the world record for the 100 meters at the time, with a run of 9.79 seconds.

7. Nesta Carter — 9.78 seconds (100m dash)

• Full name: Nesta Carter OD
• Born: 11 October 1985
• Age: 37 years (as of February 2023)
• Birthplace: Manchester Parish, Jamaica
• Nationality: Jamaican
• Height: 173 cm
• Weight: 78 kg
• Event(s): 100 metres, 200 metres
• Personal best: 9.78 s (100m in Rieti, Italy, in 2010) and 20.25 s (200 m in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2011)

Former Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter participated in the 100-meter dash. He has won gold medals and set sprinting records. He once ran the fastest time of 9.78 seconds in the 100 meters. In 2013, Carter finished third in Moscow’s individual 100m world championships. In the United States, Nesta is one of the most well-known athletes.

6. Christian Coleman — 9.76 seconds (100m dash)

• Full name: Christian Coleman
• Born: 6 March 1996
• Age: 26 years (as of February 2023)
• Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
• Nationality: American
• Height: 175 cm
• Weight: 72 kg
• Event(s): 100 metres, 200 metres
• Personal best: 9.76 s (100m in Doha, Qatar, in 2019) and 19.85 s (200 m in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, in 2017)

Sprinter Coleman is among the fastest people in the USA. He is the world champion in the 100m. At the 2017 World Athletics Championships, Christian Coleman won two gold medals. He also runs a 4×100-metre relay, 4×200-meter relay, 60-meter dash, and 40-yard dash races.

5. Justin Gatlin — 9.74 seconds (100m dash)

• Full name: Justin Alexander Gatlin
• Born: 10 February 1982
• Age: 40 years (as of February 2023)
• Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States
• Nationality: American
• Height: 185 cm
• Weight: 80 kg
• Event(s): 60 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres
• Personal best: 9.74 s (100m in Doha, Qatar, in 2015) and 19.71 s (200m in Eugene, Oregon, USA, in 2015)

Gatlin is one of the top ten high-speed runners globally, with a world record of 9.74 seconds in the 100m. He won the Olympic 100m title in 2004 and was the world champion in both 2015 and 2017. Justin Gatlin is also the 2005 World Champion in 200 m, and the 2019 World Champion in the 4 x 100m relay.

4. Asafa Powell — 9.72 seconds (100m dash)

• Full name: Asafa Powell, CD
• Born: 23 November 1982
• Age: 40 years (as of February 2023)
• Birthplace: Linstead, Jamaica
• Nationality: Jamaican
• Height: 191 cm
• Weight: 87 kg
• Event(s): 100 metres, 200 metres
• Personal best: 9.72 s (100m in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2008) and 19.90 s (200m in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2006)

The retired Jamaican sprinter, Asafa Powell, is also on the list of speedy runners. He had a history of setting the 100m world record twice, 9.77 seconds in June 2005 and 9.74 seconds in May 2008. In September 2008, Powell set a personal best record of 9.72 s in the 100-metre dash race in Lausanne, Switzerland.

3. Yohan Blake — 9.69 seconds (100m dash)

• Full name: Yohan Blake
• Born: 26 December 1989
• Age: 33 years (as of February 2023)
• Birthplace: St. James Parish, Jamaica
• Nationality: Jamaican
• Height: 180 cm
• Weight: 80 kg
• Event(s): 100 metres, 200 metres
• Personal best: 9.69 s (100m in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2012) and 19.26 s (200 m in Brussels, Belgium, in 2011)

Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake won gold in the 100 x 4 relay event at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. As a result, fans nicknamed him «The Beast.» During the 2011 World Athletics Championships, he won gold in the 100-metre dash as the youngest 100m world champion ever. Blake has bagged 14 gold, four silver, and three bronze medals in his international competitions.

2. Tyson Gay — 9.69 seconds (100m dash)

• Full name: Tyson Gay
• Born: 9 August 1982
• Age: 40 years (as of February 2023)
• Birthplace: Lexington, Kentucky, United States
• Nationality: American
• Height: 180 cm
• Weight: 75 kg
• Event(s): 100 metres, 200 metres
• Personal best: 9.69 s (100m in Shanghai, China, in 2009) and 19.58 s (200 m in New York, USA, in 2009)

The retired American athlete is the second quickest sprinter globally after running a 200-meter race in 19.58 seconds during the 2009 Adidas Grand Prix competition. Completing the 100-meter dash in 9.69 seconds at the 2009 Shanghai Golden Grand Prix contest contributed to his rise to fame. Tyson Gay is also considered one of the fastest athletes in Men’s 200 meters.

1. Usain Bolt — 9.58 seconds (100m dash)

• Full name: Usain St. Leo Bolt OJ CD OLY
• Born: 21 August 1986
• Age: 36 years (as of February 2023)
• Birthplace: Sherwood Content, Jamaica
• Nationality: Jamaican
• Height: 195 cm
• Weight: 94 kg
• Event(s): 100 metres, 200 metres
• Personal best: 9.58 s (100m in Berlin, Germany, in 2009) and 19.19 s (200m in Berlin, Germany, in 2009)

Jamaica sprinter Usain retired in 2017 with a long list of awards and records to his name. He mostly participated in the 100-meter race and the world regards him as the greatest 100m sprinter of all time. Fans nicknamed Usain Bolt the «Bullet». He is the fastest runner on the planet with a 9.58 seconds world record in the 100m sprint. It is the shortest 100m sprint time ever.

Who’s the fastest person in the world?

Usain Bolt’s top speed was 9.58 seconds (100m in Berlin, Germany, in 2009) and 19.19 seconds (200m in Berlin, Germany, in 2009).

Who is the fastest person alive in 2023?

Retired Jamaican athlete, Usain Bolt, is the fastest human in the world. In 2009, he set personal best records of 9.58 seconds in the 100-metre dash and 19.19 seconds in 200-metre dash races in Berlin, Germany.

Who are the top 5 fastest people?

1. Usain Bolt
2. Tyson Gay
3. Justin Gatlin
4. Asafa Powell
5. Yohan Blake

Who is the fastest runner in the world?

The top 10 fastest runners in history are:

1. Usain Bolt
2. Tyson Gay
3. Justin Gatlin
4. Asafa Powell
5. Yohan Blake
6. Richard Thompson
7. Steve Mullings
8. Maurice Greene
9. Nesta Carter
10. Christian Coleman

Who are the fastest footballers in the world?

Soccer players are nowhere near as fast as Olympic track athletes. The top 10 fastest footballers are:

1. Kyle Walker
2. Karim Bellarabi
3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
4. Inaki Williams
5. Erling Haaland
6. Kylian Mbappe
7. Marcus Rashford
8. Adama Traore
9. Achraf Hakimi
10. Alphonso Davies

Who are the fastest NBA players in the world?

The fastest players in the league, according to NBA 2K22:

1. De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings.
2. Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies.
3. Keon Johnson, Tennessee.
4. Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz.
5. RJ Hampton, Orlando Magic.
6. Derrick White, San Antonio Spurs.
7. Grant Riller, Charlotte Hornets.
8. Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76er

Who are the fastest NFL players in the world?

1. John Ross
2. Kalon Barnes
3. Tariq Woolen
4. Marquise Goodwin
5. Javelin Guidry
6. Curtis Samuel
7. Andy Isabella
8. Parris Campbell
9. Will Fuller V
10. Raheem Mostert

Usain Bolt is the fastest person on earth in 2023. The retired Jamaican sprinter has topped the list of the world’s fastest human for over two decades. He still holds the record of the fastest racer in the 100m race. Bolt broke many records and set new ones that are yet to be broken.

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Haven’t you always wanted to go really, really fast? Most people scratch the itch in vehicles, but not everyone. People are capable of incredible feats of strength, skill, and of course speed. But what makes the fastest person in the world? How do you measure speed? Is it who can run the fastest in a straight line? The top speed someone can achieve? What about lateral speed, or speed over long distances? In this article we’ll explore the fastest people in the world, looking at athletes that compete in a number of sports, terrains, and distances. You might be surprised by what you find.

1) Usain Bolt

The gold standard in speed is Usain Bolt. Even his name suggests he was predestined to become widely considered the fastest sprinter in the world, if not the fastest person in the world. Bolt was born in Jamaica in 1986, and dreamed of being a soccer star. However, his speed soon became his calling card when he shattered Waldensia Primary’s 100 meter dash at the age of 12. In high school, coaches Dwayne Jarrett and Pablo McNeil pushed Bolt to focus on running, and he won his first high school championships medal in 2001. The rest as they say, was fastory. Bolt went on to set Olympic records in the 100 meters (9.58 seconds), the 200 meters (19.19), and was on the 4 x 100 meters relay team team that broke 37 seconds (36.84). His 100m record time stands to this day. He retired after the 2017 World Championships, and is generally considered the greatest sprinter of all time. In 2009 between the 60 and 80 meter mark of the 100 meters sprint Bolt was clocked at 27.8 mph, the fastest footspeed on record.

2) Tyreek Hill

Not all of the fastest people in the world get to run unencumbered. Tyreek Hill, a wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs, can lay claim to being the fastest person in the world in football pads. Hill hit 22.77 mph while returning a free kick for an 86 yard touchdown this year, breaking his previous record of 21.78, during a 91-yard punt return against the Los Angeles Chargers. He also one-upped the Jacksonville Jaguar’s running back Leonard Fournette, who hit a 22.05 mph top speed last season. Fournette pointed out that combine speed, or speed in a straight line isn’t how to best measure speed in football, which isn’t just a game of straight line speed. Check out Hill’s record breaking run and high five on his way to the end zone below:

3) Leonard Fournette

Speaking of Fournette, he made the list due to his weight. Fournette ran a 4.51 40-yard dash, at 240 pounds. Fournette now weighs between 230 and 240 pounds, and claims he’s never been caught from behind in the open field. “There’s guys who ran 4.4s or whatever else and they’re getting caught from behind in a game. Football speed and track speed is a big difference, man,” Fournette said, describing his blinding speed. In some ways, Bolt being the fastest person in the world at 207 pounds might not be as impressive as weighing nearly 40 pounds more and being weighed down by football pads. His 2017 speed of 22.05 MPH was the previous record in the NFL before Hill broke it. Fournette claims he used to be faster: “I ran faster than that in college,” Fournette told ESPN. “It’s all about getting my legs back under me…I ran like, 23 mph in college, so (I’m just trying to get my old speed back.” Below you can check out Fournette’s 22.05 mph top-speed during his 90-yard touchdown against the Steelers. You can also see Steelers safety hit 21.06 mph in pads in pursuit. Too little, too late.

4) Florence Griffith-Joyner

Not all the fastest people in the world are men. While Bolt believes his records can stand for 15-20 years, Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49 seconds in the 100 meter dash has held strong for 30 years, after she set it in the 1988 Olympic trials in Indianapolis. Known affectionately as Flo-Jo, Griffith-Joyner is considered the fastest woman of all time. She won three gold medals in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea (100m, 200m, and 100x4m relay). Fascinatingly, Flo-Jo won the silver medal in 1984 Olympic Games, then stepped back from sprinting, only running part-time and opting out of the 1985 U.S. National Championship. But in 1988, at the age of 29, Flo-Jo participated in the 1988 Olympics, setting her still-standing 100m record. While some try to discredit her record with accusations of steroids, and wind-assistance, you can decide for yourself by watching her record run below:

5) Cristiano Ronaldo

Meet the fastest soccer player in the world. Ronaldo is one of the greatest soccer players of all time, in no small part due to his breakneck speed. Ronaldo reached the highest top-speed in the 2018 World Cup in Russia at 38.6 km/h while playing Spain in a 3-3 tie. Keep in mind, Ronaldo did this while trying to time his run to coincide with a pass from a teammate as he entered the box. He didn’t run in a straight line, and he was 32-years-old at the time. The fastest person in the world comes in all shapes, sizes, and ages. To put this run in perspective, in the 2018 World Cup Luis Advingula, who’s 28, came closest at 33.8 km/h, Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku, 25, hit 32.8 km/h, and Ronaldo’s chief competitor for best soccer player in the world, Lionel Messi, was clocked at a top speed of only 25 km/h. Catch up Messi!

6) Mickey Mantle

Even though he died over 20 years ago, and retired from the MLB in 1968, Mantle will forever be remembered as one of the greatest baseball players to ever live, and perhaps the fastest baseball player in the world. He holds the record for highest career OPS+ (on base plus slugging adjusted for the park and league a player played in) of any center fielder, and also held the highest stolen base percentage of any player at the time of his retirement. Mantle was able to keep such a stellar stolen base success percentage because of his prodigious speed. The distance between home and first base is 90 feet, making a dash from the plate to first one of the quickest sprints in pro sports. Adding to the difficulty is the sprint usually happens after swinging a bat, and as a right-handed hitter, while the hitter’s momentum is carrying them away from first. As a switch-hitter, Mantle could take advantage of being closer to first when he batted from the left side, but regardless, he was known as the fastest ever from home to first. Legend has it he could run from home to first in 3.1 seconds, and 3 seconds flat from the left.

7) Byron Buxton and Billy Hamilton

In modern baseball, there are two players who carry the flaming torch passed down by the speedy Mantle. The Minnesota Twin’s Byron Buxton averages 30 feet per second on his “max-effort” plays while running the bases, while the Cincinnati Red’s Billy Hamilton is just ahead of him at 30.1 feet per second. To put this in perspective, the low end of baserunners travel only 23 feet per second. While the duo are incredibly fast, they’re still nowhere near Mantle’s 3.1-3 seconds flat to first. In 2016, among trips from home to first from a right-handed batter without a bunt, Buxton set the record at 3.72 seconds on July 15th against the Cleveland Indians. Hamilton, as a left-handed batter (without bunting) holds the record from home to first at 3.61 seconds. The MLB averages were 4.62 and 4.58 respectively. That same year Hamilton set the record for first to third in 5.24 seconds, and home to third in 10.45. Not to be outdone, Buxton set the record for 2016 with a 14.05 second inside-the park home run.

Hicham El Guerrouj

What about speed over greater distances? El Guerrouj, a Moroccan middle-distance runner is the current record holder in the 1500 meters, mile, and outdoor 2000 meters. His best times ever were 3:26.00, 3:43.13, and 4:44.79 respectively. There was a time where a sub-4 minute mile was seen as impossible, but El Guerrouj shattered that record. His ability to set records at different distances puts him not just one of the fastest people in the world, but one of the most versatile runners in the world. He competed in races from 800m-5,000m throughout his illustrious career, which ended in 2006, after enjoying his first international win at age 18 in 1992. His speed and longevity will be remembered forever.

9) Bret Maune

Now let’s consider ridiculously long distances, over treacherous terrain. Speed meets endless endurance in the Barkley Marathons. Created by Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell, the Barkley course was inspired by the 1977 escape of James Earl Ray, who escaped from the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Tennessee after killing Martin Luther King Jr. Ray disappeared for 55 hours in the woods near the prison, but was found only 8 hours away. Cantrell, a distance runner who ran in the area thought he could do 100 miles in that amount of time. In 1986, the Barkley Marathons were born. The race is 100 miles, completed in 60 hours or less through an array of brambles, 54,200 feet of climbing and descension, rivers, streams, and a number of other landscapes that hamper their running. Only 15 runners have ever completed the race. In 2011, Brett Maune, a generally unknown distance runner completed the race for the first time, posting a time of 57:13:33. The next year he was back, and set the current record, at 52:03:08, making him the fastest distance marathon runner in the world under challenging conditions.

10) Noah Lyles

So who is currently the fastest person in the world? As you’ve seen, there’s a number of different ways to measure speed, but a strong contender for the title is Noah Lyles, an American sprinter born in Gainesville, Florida in 1997. His personal bests are 9.88 seconds in the 100m dash and 19.65 seconds in the 200m race. His 100m time is exactly three tenths of a second behind Bolt’s world record. Remember, Lyles is just 21, and Bolt didn’t set his record until days before his 23rd birthday. He’d previously set the record at 9.69 seconds the year before, so Lyles will have more chances over the course of his career to potentially break Bolt’s records and become the greatest sprinter of all time. Currently, Lyles is the 300m indoor world record holder with a time of 31.87.

From football to sprinting, baseball to soccer, middle distance to long, we’ve looked at ten of the top candidates for fastest person in the world, both now and all-time. As our species evolves alongside medicine, nutrition and training methods, we’re extremely likely to see new feats of speed, despite the proclamations of Bolt and others. Stay tuned.

Humans can be quite fast. Not as fast as some animals, but fast nonetheless. While a lot of the human speed comes down to genetics, the world’s fastest humans also require a lot of training to maximize their speed. Unsurprisingly, the world’s fastest humans are all professional sprinters who have trained hard for years to reach the average speeds they eventually reached. Here are the currently 10 fastest people in recorded history, measured by their recorded top speeds over 100 meters or equivalent hourly top average speed times.

The 10 Fastest People in History

1. Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt is the fastest human in history by average top speed. The Jamaican was born in 1986 in Sherwood Content, a small town in Northern Jamaica. Bolt first dreamed of becoming either a professional football (soccer) or cricket player, but his school PE teacher noticed Bolt’s remarkable running speed and urged him to focus on track and field instead. Bolt listened to his coach and subsequently became the world’s fastest human. At the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany, Usain Bolt set a new world record by running 100 meters in 9.58 seconds. A world record that remains unbroken to date.

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2. Yohan Blake

Much like the fastest human on Earth, the second fastest is Jamaican as well. Yohan Blake was born in 1989 in a small town in the Western Jamaican Parish of Saint James. Like Bolt, Blake originally wanted to become a professional cricket player, but changed his focus after his school’s principal urged him to try sprinting after realizing how fast Blake was. When Usain Bolt was once asked to name the one human who could seriously challenge him, his answer was Yohan Blake. Blake certainly came close when he ran 100 meters in 9.69 seconds at an athletics event in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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3. Tyson Gay

Tyson Gay is the third fastest human and fastest non-Jamaican in history. The American professional sprinter was born in 1982 in Lexington, Kentucky. His physical speed was almost a genetic certainty as his sprinter genes may have been given to him by his grandmother, who sprinted for the Eastern Kentucky University, and/or his mother, who also ran in her high school years. It should therefore be no surprise that Gay stepped into his mother’s and grandmother’s footsteps and became a professional sprinter himself. He quickly started to break national record after record. In 2009, at an athletics event in Shanghai, China, Gay ran 100 meters in 9.69 seconds and is therefore practically as fast as Yohan Blake. He is being ranked behind Blake only because Gay’s sprint was wind-assisted.

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4. Asafa Powell

Asafa Powell is yet another Jamaican who belongs to the fastest people in history. Born in 1982 in Spanish Town, Jamaica, Powell grew up as the youngest of six sons of two Christian ministers. All of his brothers showed a great physical prowess and speed from their earliest ages on and his oldest brother, Donovan Powell, went on to become a sprinter as well. Yet, in the end, the youngest sibling proved to be the fastest: Asafa Powell ran 100 meters in 9.72 at an athletics event in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2008. He is now ranked as the fourth fastest human in history.

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5. Justin Gatlin

Justin Gatlin completes the Top 5 of fastest people in history. Gatlin was born in New York City in 1982, but mainly grew up in Pensacola, Florida. The American first played American football in high school but eventually made the switch to the track. Unfortunately, his career as a professional sprinter almost ended quickly and abruptly in 2006 when he received a 4-year ban for testing positive for doping substances containing testosterone. Gatlin afterwards tried to return to American football, but failed to make it onto the NFL rosters of both the Houston Texans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Instead, Gatlin returned to the track in 2010 and proved that you can still be a successful sprinter in your 30s. Gatlin ran his personal best (100 meters in 9.74 seconds) in 2015, at the age of 33, at an athletics even in Doha, Qatar. In 2019, at the age of 37, he also became the oldest sprinter in history to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships.

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6. Christian Coleman

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7. Nesta Carter

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8. Maurice Greene

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9. Steve Mullings

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10. Richard Thompson

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The 10 Fastest People in History
(at a glance)

(as of December 2019, by top recorded speeds)

Top 10 Fastest People in History:
1. USAIN BOLT 9.58 s / 100 m = 37.6 km/h (23.4 mph)
2. YOHAN BLAKE 9.69 s /100 m = 37.2 km/h (23.1 mph), opposing wind strength
3. TYSON GAY 9.69 s /100 m = 37.2 km/h (23.1 mph), following wind strength
4. ASAFA POWELL 9.72 s /100m = 37.04 km/h (23.01 mph)
5. JUSTIN GATLIN 9.74 s /100m = 36.96 km/h (22.97 mph)
6. CHRISTIAN COLEMAN 9.76 s /100m = 36.89 km/h (22.92 mph)
7. NESTA CARTER 9.78 s /100m = 36.81 km/h (22.87 mph)
8. MAURICE GREENE 9.79 s /100m = 36.77 km/h (22.85 mph)
9. STEVE MULLINGS 9.80 s /100m = 36.73 km/h (22.83 mph)
10. RICHARD THOMPSON 9.82 s /100m = 36.66 km/h (22.78 mph)

Related Rankings:

Champions of the 100 m are often bestowed the title of ‘the fastest man in the world’. Here’s a summary of the famous speedsters of modern times, and the legendary Usain Bolt.

Everyone who follows sports must have heard about a certain Jamaican gentleman by the name of Usain Bolt. Frankly, anybody with enough interest in the world of sport to peruse the sports pages once or twice a week and to not have an uncontrollable desire to change the channel if a sports broadcast comes on, reveres that name. As Usain Bolt has shown the world time and again, he is a true champion, a born winner and an amazing entertainer!

Fast Facts

Usain Bolt is a Jamaican Sprinter, specializing in the 100 m and the 200 m. He holds the following records, among others:

✶ World Record time in 100 m: 9.58 s
✶ World Record time in 200 m: 19.19 s
✶ Olympic Record time in 100 m: 9.63 s
✶ Olympic Record time in 200 m: 19.30 s

World Beater

“I told you all I was going to be No. 1, and I did just that.”

In May 2008, Bolt clocked an amazing 9.76 s in the 100 m at an invitational meet. This was the second fastest time ever posted, only trailing fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell by 0.2 seconds. While everybody else, including Bolt himself, was surprised at how much he had improved, his coach Glen Mills was confident that there was more to come. On May 31, Bolt set a world record time of 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix, in only his fifth senior 100 m run.

He made history in the following Beijing Olympics, winning both the 100 m and 200 m in world record time. The Jamaican 4×100 m relay team also set the world record time. Responding to criticism following his premature celebratory antics in the 100 m final, he said he “was not bragging” and was “just happy when he saw that he wasn’t covered”. Never one to rest on his laurels, he further rewrote history books in next year’s World Championships held in Berlin. Setting the world records in the two sprint events once again, he impressed one and all with his searing pace, with former Olympic champion Shawn Crawford encapsulating it perfectly, “I felt like I was in a video game, that guy was moving – fast!”

Bolt attributed the stunning times to the much better starts he had made to both races, compared to his previous runs.

In the 2012 London Olympics, Bolt won the 100 m (in Olympic Record time), the 200 m, and along with teammates Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater, the 4×100 m relay, making him the first athlete ever to win all three in successive Olympics, thus reaffirming his status as one of the all-time greats in the history of athletics.

Best of the Rest

While Usain Bolt has made a habit of sweeping the gold medals, the ones that have to be content with a place on the podium are often forgotten. Many of these guys are champions in their own right. Here’s some of Bolt’s closest contenders:

Yohan Blake

Bolt’s training partner, Blake is the youngest challenger to his throne. Blake has to his name the second fastest 200 m time ever set at 19.26 s. He also has the fourth fastest 100 m time at 9.75 s. Blake won the 2011 IAAF World Championships 100 m, albeit after Bolt was disqualified for a false start. With that win he became one of the 3 sprinters to have beaten Bolt in the 100 m. At just 22 years of age, Blake is the prime candidate to inherit Bolt’s legacy.

Tyson Gay

American national record holder Tyson Gay is one of the three men to have beaten Bolt in the 100 m. In the historic 2009 Berlin World Championships, he set the fastest non-winning time in the 100 m at 9.71 s. After winning the 100 m, the 200 m and the 4×100 m relay, at the 2007 Osaka World Championships, he became only the second athlete in history to achieve this treble.

Asafa Powell

Bolt’s compatriot Powell is a former world-record holder in the 100 m, with times of 9.77 and 9.74 s. He also holds the record for having broken the 10-second barrier the most number of times – 79!

These are some of the fastest men in the world right now. While some thought the 9.6-second barrier in the 100 m was impenetrable, Usain Bolt corrected that misconception in stunning fashion. Now, there is a serious debate on whether 9.5 seconds can be breached. With the new wave of the merchants of speed starting to arrive on the global scene, I don’t think we would have to wait long to find out.

“Things were never given to him,” said his agent Ricky Simms. “He had to go take things because that’s the way it was when there were so many mouths to feed. He’s wanted this for a long time. He really wants it quite badly, to be the best and to be one of the greatest ever.”

Kerley cemented all-time status Saturday night at Hayward Field. In a 100-meter final drenched in red, white and blue at the world track and field championships, Kerley seized the title of fastest man in the world by inches over countrymen Marvin Bracy-Williams and Trayvon Brommel. Kerley finished in 9.86 seconds, 0.02 seconds ahead of both bronze medalist Bromell and second-place Bracy-Williams, who led until the last five meters. Kerley’s lean gave him the crowning achievement of an ascendant career and the Americans a podium sweep.

For U.S. men’s sprinting, it meant redemption after a letdown at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, where Bromell failed to make the semifinals as the favorite, the 4×100 relay team dropped the baton in prelims and no individual gold medals were won. For Kerley, a taciturn 27-year-old of bulging muscles and few words, it meant the latest apex of a singular career still in ascent.

“The world’s fastest man,” Kerley said Saturday night. “It means a lot.”

At the outset of 2021, Kerley expected to contend for an Olympic gold medal in the 400 meters, the event at which he had once reached No. 1 in the world and remains the eighth-fastest ever. He switched early last year, to much derision within the sport, to 100 meters. He won the Olympic silver medal, and this year he separated himself from the rest of the world.

“I believe in myself, first and foremost,” Kerley said. “I put the work in to be great. I don’t come to run to be second best.”

Kerley reached the top of his sport years after a turbulent childhood. He was born Fred Coleman. Virginia Kerley adopted him and his siblings after his father went to jail and his mother “took wrong turns in life,” Kerley once wrote in Spikes magazine. Virginia Kerley, now 66, watched her nephew become the fastest man in the world from home in San Antonio.

“I think about her every day,” Kerley said. “She sacrificed her life for me and my brothers and sisters and my cousins. It feels amazing to accomplish something. Not too many people in my position did what I got to do.”

There have been faster sprinters than Kerley. There have never been any quite like him. Other runners have swapped distances in search of success or any easier path to a medal. None, perhaps, have risen to the top of the world in one distance, then done the same in another that places such different demands on a sprinter.

“What he’s trying to do is unprecedented, at least in recent history,” said Olympic medalist Ato Boldon, now an NBC analyst.

Kerley is one of three men, along with South African Wayde van Niekerk and American Michael Norman, who have run 400 meters in less than 44 seconds, 200 meters in less than 20 seconds and 100 meters in less than 10 seconds. Add up their best performances in each race using World Athletics’ scoring system, and Kerley’s score is the best.

It took time for Simms, a prominent agent who represented Usain Bolt, to understand how Kerley operates. Most sprinters radically shift their training when they move between the 100, 200 and 400. Kerley believes he could run his best 400 right now. He proclaimed Saturday night that, if asked, he would run in both the 4×100 and the 4×400 relays at these championships, an unheard of double.

“Hopefully, I can do both,” Kerley said.

“They’ve convinced me now, if you gave him a chance to run the 4×400 in this meet, I think he’d run a 43 split,” Simms said. How big of a statement is that? When the U.S. 4×400 relay team won gold in Tokyo and posted the fastest time in 13 years, only one runner, Rai Benjamin, broke 44 seconds.

“He’s definitely the best there ever has been with the range,” Simms said. “Michael Johnson could run 100, 200 and 400, but almost at different times. He would prepare for the shorter one and do it. Fred’s ability to do all three simultaneously, that’s something that is quite unique.”

Kerley has always insisted he simply followed the instructions of his coach, Alleyne Francique, when he switched to 100 meters early in 2021. That’s not what really happened, though. An injury decided for him.

Kerley ran two 400-meter races at the start of 2021, and afterward his ankle was “swollen like a balloon,” Simms said. Kerley could run straight without pain, but turns demolished his ankle. Simms entered Kerley in the 100, 200 and 400 at the U.S. Olympic trials.

On the day athletes needed to declare their events, Kerley texted Simms a picture of bloated ankle and told him he couldn’t make it through three 400-meter rounds. They decided Kerley would focus on the 100 and 200, a decision that prompted disdain among track experts. Why sacrifice a potential gold medal in the 400, their thinking went, to chase glory in a race in which he had little experience?

“He knew he could be good,” Simms said. “He always fancied the short sprints, because that’s where he came from. But this almost forced him to go down this path because of that injury.”

Kerley made the team, showed up even faster at the Olympics and won a silver medal, losing to surprise gold medalist Marcell Jacobs of Italy by .04 seconds. He had become the second-fastest at 100 meters despite only a few months of training tailored to the event. He separated himself this year, running 9.76 seconds — seventh-fasted all-time — at U.S. championships and 9.79 in Friday night’s opening round.

By the time he settled into the blocks in Lane 4 on Saturday night, Kerley had made himself the overwhelming favorite. Four Americans qualified for the eight-man final, with reigning world champion Christian Coleman finishing sixth.

Kerley bolted from the blocks, but the field stayed with him. On the outside in Lane 8, Brommel inched ahead of the pack. Bracy-Williams, running to Kerley’s left in lane 3, seized a small lead. At the finish line, Kerley lunged and stretched his neck. The trio knew they had produced a sweep. They weren’t sure of the order. Kerley jogged to the top of the track and stared at the board.

“I didn’t know until I looked at the clock,” Kerley said. “It said Fred Kerley, No. 1.”

When Bracy-Williams’s and Brommel’s names flashed next, Bracy-Williams tackled Bromell, his training partner.

“I don’t know what went through Marvin’s head,” Bromell said.

“Man, I’ve been in the trenches with that guy since Day 1,” Bracy-Williams said. “To see him come back and fight like hell to get a medal in that fashion, how can you not?”

Bromell, 27, won a bronze medal at the 2015 world championships and made the 100-meter final at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. In that race, he injured his Achilles’ tendon and left the track in a wheelchair. He would undergo two Achilles’ surgeries and fade to the fringes of the sport. In 2018, he wrote a retirement letter and nearly signed it. He found religion and therapy and suddenly reemerged back at the top of the sport, winning the U.S. Olympic trials last summer — only to fall flat in Tokyo, not even escaping the preliminary round, then bungling a relay handoff.

“Man, it was hard,” Bromell said. “I’ve always had the talent. They’ve seen that over the years. I work hard. It’s no days off. So when I didn’t show up in Tokyo, it wasn’t that I wasn’t ready. But I wasn’t ready mentally. To be around guys like Marvin and Fred, to see how they stay poised and react in these championships, now I know what it takes to have that championship mentality.”

Bracy-Williams, too, had to fight his way back. The 28-year-old left track and field in 2016 to pursue a football career. He broke his arm in 2019 and decided that was enough football. When he returned to track in 2020, he ran 100 meters in 10.33 seconds, not fit for a semifinal at an elite track meet, let alone the medal stand. In a semifinal at the U.S. Olympic trials, he suffered an injury and limped across the line.

“To comeback and do this, man, it just means everything,” Bracy-Williams said.

Nobody in the world was faster than him Saturday except Kerley. Kerley runs with immense power and ruthless intensity. The fastest sprinters typically treat preliminary rounds as calisthenics, content to build a lead and cruise to the finish in about 10 seconds. Kerley barrels through the tape as if trying to stomp on his opponents’ soul. He won his first-round heat Friday night in a time no man had beat this year and only 10, himself included, had ever surpassed.

“The guy is running out of his mind right now,” Bracy-Williams said. “We always expect fireworks from him, especially early on. He’s a guy that likes to come out, make a statement early.”

Canadian sprinter Andre deGrasse said Kerley’s strength from running 400 meters enables him to maintain top-end speed longer than his rivals. Boldon said Kerley’s experience in the 400 explains how he can obliterate preliminary rounds and have enough energy left to win finals. “He’s a quarter-miler,” Boldon said. “Do you know what kind of pain they go through?”

Standing 6-foot-3 with bulging muscles, Kerley towers over his competitors. In some races, he looks like a kid sprinting in the wrong age group. His strides appear as if they could crack the track into pieces.

“Kerley looks like he could be an NFL player that stepped into the 100,” Boldon said. “He does look different than everybody else, but that difference is his advantage. When you get a big wheel turning, as we saw with Bolt, it can be devastating.”

“One thing I know about the guy, he’s a competitor,” Bracy-Williams said. “He fears none. He focuses in on himself, and that’s what this sport is about.”

Bracy-Williams found out before the world championships even started. He and Kerley played cornhole Thursday night, the eve of the event. “He’s serious about everything we compete in, even if it’s drinking water,” Bracy-Williams said. “You got to come with it.” Bracy-Williams insists he beat Kerley, two out of three.

The title of world’s fastest man confers celebrity on the man who holds it. Kerley appears to be wholly uninterested in anything the sport offers outside a narrow strip of vulcanized rubber. He answers questions with few sentences composed of few words. After his blazing first-round sprint, Kerley strode past reporters with his head held high and silently flashed a thumbs up at reporters who approached him. Simms believes Kerley will grow into his more prominent status. Saturday night, he told an on-track interviewer after one question, “I’m going to take a walk.” He then approached the stands and high-fived fans.

“He’s the coolest customer you’re ever likely to meet,” Simms said. “He’s still building his confidence in the media. When he’s around people he knows, he’s a joker. He’s got a lot of talk. If we’re at a Diamond League meet and we’re all sitting around the table, there’s a lot of laughs coming from something Fred has said.”

The world will get to know Kerley. Saturday night, under a piercing blue sky and a setting sun, Kerley jogged around the Hayward Field track with an American flag stretched across his back. He had come so far from where he started, and he was not finished yet.

“I know today opened up many doors for me,” Kerley said. “I’m thankful for that. And the future is bright for me.”

 

The Worlds Fastest Man [Скачать]

The World’s Fastest Man	Самый быстрый человек в мире
Usain Bolt was the first man	Усэйн Болт стал первым человеком
in Olympic history to win both	в истории Олимпийских игр, выигравший
the 100m and 200m races,	100 и 200-метровый забеги,
setting world records in each event	установив мировые рекорды в каждом,
and then, as part of the 4x100m relay team,	а после, в эстафете 4×100 метров,
achieved another world record.	поставив ещё один мировой рекорд.
Off the track he founded	За пределами беговой дорожки он основал (благотворительный)
the Usain Bolt Foundation,	фонд Усэйна Болта,
which “is dedicated to the legacy	который «является вкладом в наследие
for happy children;	счастливых детей;
to enhance the character of children	воспитывая личностные качества детей
through educational	путём просвещения
and cultural development,	и культурного развития,
as they live their dreams.”	для достижении их заветных целей«.
Meanwhile, Usian has entered	Между тем, Усэйн вошёл
the world of business	в мир бизнеса
with his own clothing line —	со своей собственной коллекцией одежды,
in collaboration with Puma.	созданной совместно с (компанией) Puma.
His «Tracks & Records» restaurant,	Его(он также открыл свой) ресторан «Tracks & Records»,
where you can savour	где можно насладиться
healthy original Jamaican specialities,	полезной традиционной ямайской кухней,
is the first of its kind	являющейся первой в своём роде
in the Caribbean.	на Карибских островах.
He also endorses top international	Вдобавок Усэйн рекламирует ведущие международные
sports brands.	спортивные бренды.

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