What was Usain Bolt’s fastest speed?
Over an illustrious career, Usain Bolt has established himself as one of, if not the greatest sprinters of all time. Although the 35-year-old retired in 2017, he still holds the men’s 100m and 200m world record, which today’s generation of athletes are still striving to beat.
The Jamaican’s ability to reach incredible top speeds over such short distances has earned him several titles, including eight Olympic gold medals. In the men’s 100m event, Bolt holds the world record with a blistering time of 9.58 seconds, which he set in 2009. This makes him the fastest man in the world, according to its maximum top speed.
What is the highest top speed achieved by Usain Bolt?
During his career, Bolt broke the men’s 100m world record three times. Before him, fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell held that title with a time of 9.74s which he set in 2007. On May 31, 2008, Bolt broke that record with a time of 9.72s. He then broke his own world record six weeks later at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a time of 9.69s.
However, Bolt didn’t stop there, putting in his fastest performance a year later. In the men’s 100m final at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, the Jamaican sprinted to break a new world record of 9.58 seconds. Although his main competitor Tyson Gay finished under Bolt’s former world record, he was no match for Bolt that night.
During this run in Berlin, Bolt recorded the highest speeds a human can record on the planet. Throughout the 9.58-second sprint, he recorded an average ground speed of 37.58 kilometers per hour, or 23.35 miles per hour.
Additionally, he recorded an incredible top speed of 44.72 kilometers per hour, or 27.78 miles per hour in that sprint. He reached this speed on the 60-80m stretch.
To put that into perspective, the men’s 100m final at this year’s Tokyo Olympics acts as an effective benchmark. Italian Lamont Marcell Jacobs took gold in this event with a time of 9.80. During this run, he recorded a top speed of 43.07 kilometers per hour, or 26.76 miles per hour.
Bolt also holds the men’s 4x100m relay world record
In addition to three gold medals in the men’s 100m and 200m events, the Jamaican also won two gold medals in the men’s 4×100m relay. Although he won the event three times, he lost the medal he won at the Beijing Olympics due to his teammate, Nesta Carter, returning a positive doping test.
At the 2012 London Olympics, he represented Jamaica with Carter, Michael Frater and Yohan Blake in the men’s 4x100m relay. The foursome recorded a time of 36.84 seconds, which is the world record to date.
Although Bolt retired four years ago, today’s sprinters face a monumental challenge to reach not just his high speeds, but his level of achievement.
Let’s start with a definition: How to define who is the fastest man in the world? We know it’s Usain Bolt but why? How fast is Usain Bolt?
The fastest man in the world is defined as the person who holds the world record in the 100 meters, because it is the official sprint event where the speed will be the highest. The fastest man in the world is therefore Usain Bolt, since he holds the speed record for this 100-meter sprint. This world record was set in 9 seconds 58 hundredths.
We can then calculate several speed indicators for this race: average speed, maximum speed and also acceleration.
Calculation of Usain Bolt’s average speed
Let’s start with a rather simple calculation. We use the formula that says average speed is distance divided by time. This then allows us to write this formula in the form v=d/t. So we have a distance of 100 meters divided by 9.58 seconds which gives us 10.43 meters per second.
This result is not very telling. It must therefore be converted into kilometers per hour (km/h). If we travel 10.43 meters in one second (this is what 10.43 meters per second means), it means that in one minute we travel 60 times more and in one hour we travel 60 x 60 = 3600 times more. We therefore obtain 10.43 x 3600 = 37,548 meters in one hour. We divide by 1000 to get kilometers, which gives an average sprint speed of 37.548 km/h .
Let’s go back to this calculation. So we first multiplied by 3600 to go from seconds to hours and then divided by 1000 to go from meters to kilometers. All you have to do is multiply meters per second by 3600/1000 = 3.6 to get kilometers per hour. 10.43 x 3.6 = 37.548 km/h.
Some comparisons
- For 3 weeks, the Tour de France goes at an average speed of 40.22 km/h (source l’Equipe )
- The length of a marathon is 42.195 kilometers. The world record is 2 hours 1 minute and 39 seconds = 2.0275 h. We obtain an average speed of 20.811 km/h
- The average speed of a car in Paris is 14 km/h. That of the metro fluctuates between 20 and 40 km/h. When you’re Usain Bolt and you’re in Paris, it’s better to run!
- Finally, Usain Bolt has the speed of a cat . The average speed of a cat is 38 km/h when running a long enough distance
Calculation of Usain Bolt’s maximum speed
The maximum speed in practice is not calculated. In any case, not for this example there. From a mathematical point of view, when the maximum speed is reached, the derivative cancels out (however, it is not because the derivative cancels out that the speed is maximum, it can also be zero or just reach a plateau ).
So here we are going to cheat a little. Le Monde tells us that Usain Bolt’s top speed is 44.72 km/h. It is therefore between the wolf (50 km/h) and the alligator (32 km/h) and would therefore not be ridiculous running alongside a car in built-up areas. This time, he is beaten to the hilt by the subway and the car at top speed.
