Running a distance of one hundred meters is one of the most popular and prestigious competitions in the world of athletics since 1896. If a runner overcomes it in 10 seconds, he is a world-class sprinter. And if time is even shorter, then this athlete is among the number 10 the fastest people in the world, the difference between which is measured in literally milliseconds, and even the criterion such as tailwind speed is taken into account when measuring the results.
10 fastest sprinters on the planet
10. Bruni Surin
The Canadian athlete was among the fastest people in 1999 at the world championships in athletics in Seville, Spain, where he overcame the ten-second hurdle and won the silver medal. In 2009, Surin became the new Canadian champion in the 50 meter race (a group of 40 to 45 years old), having run this distance in 6.15 seconds.
Currently, Surin is not part of the world of big sports, he heads the company for the production of sports nutrition and has also released a clothing line, which Surin has called without hesitation.
9. Donovan Bailey
Now Donovan Bailey has been resting for a long time from the world of big sport, but in 1996 during the summer Olympic Games in Atlanta he crossed the finish line, spending only 100 meters to overcome 9.84 seconds. And he became the first Canadian athlete to be on the list of the fastest runners in the world.
8. Steve Mullings
The young Jamaican athlete for the first time overcame the ten-second barrier at 28, and by the end of the year had done it seven more times. June 4, 2011 in Eugene, Oregon, he ran a hundred-meter race for 9.80 secondshaving won a place in the top ten among the fastest people on the planet.
7. Justin Gatlin
American athlete Justin Gatlin, the Olympic champion, is currently in seventh place among people who are able to develop the maximum speed available to a person. At the 2012 Olympics in England, he repeated Green's achievement (9.79 seconds) and received a bronze medal.
6. Maurice Green
Four-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion Maurice Green specialized in sprint races and set a world speed record on June 16, 1999 in Athens, Greece. He ran a hundred meters in 9.79 seconds.
5. Nesta Carter
Another Jamaican runner entered the ranking of the fastest people on Earth, completing the 100 meter race in just 9.78 seconds. Nesta also boasts world records in the 4x100 meter relay (2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China), the 2011 World Athletics Championships and, a year later, the London Olympic Games.
4. Asafa Powell
Asaf held the world championship in running speed for three years - from June 2005 to May 2008 and to this day remains one of the fastest people in the history of mankind. Asaf won his title by running a hundred meters behind 9.72 seconds at the Athletics Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2008.
By October 2012, he had successfully overcome the ten-second hurdle while running 100 meters as much as 88 times — more than any other runner.
3. Johan Blake
The second number of the high-speed top-10 is (or rather, running) an athlete nicknamed the "Beast". Whether it corresponds to his inner world is unknown, but he runs really fast. Blake rushed to the finish line for 9.69 seconds at the championship in Lausanne in 2012, becoming the youngest among the fastest runners on the planet. Then he was only 19 years old.
In the same year, at the London Olympics, he almost stepped on the heels of Usain Bolt in the 100 and 200 meter races, and won the world record in the 4x100 meter relay.
2. Tyson Gay
On the second line among the fastest athletes in the world is the American athlete Tyson Gay, who ran a hundred meters behind 9.69 seconds in September 2009. Only Tyson and Maurice Green managed to win first places in three competitions at once during one championship - in the race of one hundred and two hundred meters, and the relay race of four hundred.
1. Usain Bolt - the fastest person in the world
Who is the fastest person in the world? The only person in the world can run the hundred-meter race in 9.58 seconds - Usain Bolt, a phenomenal athlete. He is the fastest person who has set a world record at a distance of 100 meters in the sprint (achieved in Berlin in 2009, surpassing his previous record of 9.69 seconds at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing).
His ultimate speed during the sprint amounted to 44.72 km / h. This is the maximum speed of a person, and it is impossible to maintain it for a long time. Bolt managed to develop such a speed in the interval between 60 and 80 meters, and in the last meters of the distance his speed decreased significantly.
Usain's success story
The speed of Usain Bolt, who was born in Jamaica in 1986, was noticed at a young age. By the age of 15, he was known as the Lightning, thanks to his triumph in the World Junior Championships in 2002. There he won the 200-meter race, making him the youngest gold medalist among the juniors in the world.
Later that year, the International Association of Athletics Federations awarded him his Rising Star Award. Today, Usain tops the list of 10 fastest people on the planet.
Despite some setbacks - in particular a hamstring injury that prevented him from competing at the 2004 Athens Olympics - Bolt soon took the sports world by storm, winning three gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This is the first athlete in the history of the Olympic Games to take first place in both 100- and 200-meter relay races.
He was able to run one hundred meters in 9.69 seconds, 200 meters in 19.30 seconds, as well as the relay of 4 to 100 meters in 37.10, breaking previous Olympic and world records. And like a “cherry” on the cake: Bolt is the first person to set three world records during one Olympics.
Sprinter defended his title “The Fastest Man on Earth” at the 2012 London Olympics, becoming the first person to win gold medals in the hundred-meter race (in 9.63 seconds) and two hundred meters (in 19.32 seconds) in two Olympic games in a row.
At the same Olympics, he and three other members of the Jamaican team set a new world record in the relay of 4 per 100 meters (36.84 seconds). After the relay ended, Bolt argued with one of the judges. The latter took the baton from the athlete, which he wanted to receive as a souvenir. However, subsequently, Bolt still received a wand as a gift.
It would seem that the limit of success has been reached, but the 29-year-old Bolt is too fast to stand still. He entered the history of sports again in 2016 after winning a third consecutive gold medal at a distance of one hundred meters in his final (presumably) Olympic Games in Rio.
“Each long journey begins with one - with the first step” - Usain Bolt
Bolt's main rival
Usain can be insanely fast, but he is not the fastest on our planet. This honor belongs to the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), a graceful predator living in Africa and Asia. These endangered felines can scamper at speed, exceeding 120 km per hour, and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km per hour in three seconds. This is the level of the Bugatti Veyron.
So the cheetah can easily overtake Usain, but after a couple of hundred yards the animal will begin to run out of breath. With enough handicap, Usain will be able to overtake him ... probably.
The fastest woman in the world
If Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the world, then who is the fastest woman? This is a US resident Florence Delores Griffith (Joyner), known to fans as Flo-Joe.
The seventh child in a large family (there were 11 children in total), raised by a divorced mother. Florence was remembered not only for her current world records of 21.34 seconds at a distance of 200 meters and 10.49 seconds in the run for a hundred meters, but also with a reverent attitude to their own appearance.
This is the first female sprinter who appeared on the treadmill carefully made up, with beautiful manicure and in bright form. In the sports world, Florence has become a true icon of style.
Griffith died in 1998 as a result of a heart attack. At that time, Flo-Joe was 38 years old.
The fastest man in Russia
The men's record in the 100-meter race was set by Andrei Epishin in 2006, his result was 10.10 seconds.
The women's speed record at a similar distance belongs to Irina Privalova, in 1994 she showed a result of 10.77 seconds.
Other human speed records
- The fastest cyclist - Francois Jissy (333 km / h)
- The fastest player - Cristiano Ronaldo (36.9 km / h)
- Ski Speed Record - Ivan Oregone (255 km / h)
- Snowboard Downhill - Darren Powell (202 km / h)
- The minimum time to assemble the Rubik's Cube - Mats Valk (4.74 sec)
- The fastest shooter from the pistol - Jerry Mikulek (5 shots at the target in 0.57 sec)
- Keyboard typing speed record - Miit (100 characters in 20 seconds)
- The fastest rapper in the world - Ceza (1267 words in 160 seconds)