Meet the World’s Fastest Runners

Hey there, young athletes, and fans of speed! Get ready for amazement as we explore the exciting world of the world’s fastest runners. Today we’ll lace up our virtual running shoes and embark on a journey to discover the remarkable achievements and jaw-dropping feats of these exceptional athletes. From breaking records to leaving competitors in the dust, the world’s fastest runners have captured the imagination of sports enthusiasts worldwide. So, get ready to sprint alongside us as we dive into the world of speed, endurance, and the pursuit of greatness. Let’s meet the superstars who have blazed a trail on the track and continue to inspire us all with their incredible talents!

The 10-second mark had been widely considered a barrier for the 100 meters in men’s sprinting. The first man to break the 10 second barrier with automatic timing was Jim Hines at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Jim Hines, Ronnie Ray Smith and Charles Greene were the first to break the 10-second barrier in the 100 m, all on 20 June 1968, the “Night of Speed.” Since then, over 170 sprinters have run faster than 10 seconds.

Major 100-meter races, such as at the Olympic Games, attract much attention, particularly when the world record is thought to be within reach.

The men’s world record has been improved upon twelve times since electronic timing became mandatory in 1977. Usain Bolt set a new world record of 9.58 seconds in Berlin in 2009.

The current women’s world record of 10.49 seconds was set by Florence Griffith-Joyner of the US, at the 1988 United States Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 16, 1988. Breaking Evelyn Ashford’s four-year-old world record by .27 seconds.

So far, only male sprinters have beaten the 100-meter 10-second barrier, the vast majority of them being of West African descent. Namibian (formerly South-West Africa) Frankie Fredericks became the first man of non-West African heritage to achieve the feat in 1991 and in 2003 Australia’s Patrick Johnson (an Indigenous Australian with Irish heritage) became the first sub-10-second runner without an African background.

In 2010, French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre became the first Caucasian to break the 10-second barrier. In 2017, Azerbaijani-born naturalized Turkish Ramil Guliyev followed and in 2018, Filippo Tortu became the first Italian to run under 10-seconds.

In the Prefontaine Classic 2015 Diamond League meet, Su Bingtian of China ran a time of 9.99 seconds, becoming the first East Asian athlete to officially break the 10-second barrier. Then Chinese sprinter Xie Zhenye ran 9.97 on June 19, 2018. On August 1, 2021, Su improved his Asian record at the Olympic semifinal in Tokyo with a time of 9.83. On September 9, 2017, Yoshihide Kiryū became the first man from Japan to break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters, running a 9.98 (+1.8) at an intercollegiate meet in Fukui. Kiryu’s Japanese teammate Yuki Koike followed suit and ran 9.98 on July 20, 2019, and Ryota Yamagata ran 9.95 on June 6, 2021.

British sprinter Adam Gemili, an athlete with an Iranian-Moroccan ethnic background, became the first sprinter of Middle-Eastern and North African ancestry to legally break the barrier on  June 7, 2015, having done so earlier in the same season with an excessive wind reading.

On July 3, 2022, Yupun Abeykoon became the first Sri Lankan as well as first South Asian sprinter in history ever to break the 10-second barrier when he won the Resisprint International 2022 title in Switzerland. Yupun’s achievement also meant Sri Lanka became the 32nd country in the world to have a sub-10 sprinter, and Yupun also became the 167th member of the sub-10 club.

So, boys—and girls! Put on your best racing shoes and hit the running track. There’s a 10-second record holders’ list waiting for your name to appear on it.

AIME