100 Meter Sprinters Are Not The Fastest
August 19th, 2008 by Ryan KistnerAlthough the 100 meter Olympic champion is often labeled as “the fastest man in the world”, it is the 200 meter sprinter who actually has the fastest average speed. The record breaking performance by Usain Bolt of Jamaica last week was amazingly impressive, but not as impressive as Michael Johnson’s 200 meter performance at the 1996 Atlanta games.
Usain Bolt ran 100 meters in 9.69 seconds, giving him an average speed of 10.31 meters per second but Michael Johnson’s 200 meters in 19.32 seconds was an average speed of 10.35 meters per second. Not a huge difference, but enough to question why the 100 meter champion gets an undeserving title.
As of now, the 100 meter female sprinter is the fastest woman in the world. However, since Florence Griffith-Joyner set both the 100 and 200 meter world records in 1988, there isn’t much of an argument. Her average speed for the 100 meters was 9.53 meters per second but her average speed for 200 meters was 9.37 meters per second. A female sprinter would need to run a 20.96 second 200 meter, beating Flo-Jo’s record of 21.34 seconds, in order to have a faster average speed. Usain Bolt would have to run an unbelievable 9.66 second 100 meter if he truly wants to be the fastest man in the world. If he doesn’t start celebrating with 20 meters left like he did at the Olympics he can probably do it.
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August 20th, 2008 at 1:02 am
The 200m truly has the top average speed but what about the top speed at one point in time? Based on http://www.sportsscientists.com he hit 43.9 km/hr 60m into the sprint (12.9 meters per second) and didn’t exceed this speed. I’ve read that Bolt has low turnover due to his 6′5″ frame whereas the average sprinter is 5′9″ and can pick’em up and put’em down much quicker off the get go. Bolt takes longer to get up to his top speed and actually takes about 5 less strides than most sprinters at the 100m distance. Given this it’s unlikely that during the 200m a sprinter would hit their top speed during the second half of the run, unless they showboat between 50 and 100m.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:45 am
I haven’t be able to find Michael Johnson’s 10 meter split times for his world record 200 meter, but I did find his 100 meter splits.
He ran the first 100 meters in 10.12 seconds but the second 100 meters in an unbelievable 9.19 seconds. Having the running start is the reason why his second half was so fast but he probably slowed naturally at the end like most sprinters do. This leads me to believe that at some point he had a higher instantaneously velocity during his second 100 meters than Usain Bolt did. If anyone can find his 10 meter splits please verify.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:56 am
He probably slowed naturally at the finish? I doubt it. Most sprinters finish strong. Bolt was a rare exception due to his showboating.
The faster average speed for the 200m vs the 100m has everything to do with the start.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I’m not sure I follow what you mean about the start. 200m sprinters are slower in the first 100m of their race than sprinters doing the 100m. The difference in the start is 200m sprinter begin on the curve whereas 100m sprinters run in a straight line.