How Fast Can Humans Run?
The average human walking speed is in the neighborhood of 3 mph (4.8 km/h). How fast do you think you could run at a full sprint? 10 mph? 15 mph? What speed could you average over 26.2 miles?
I've been wondering how various world records in running would translate to my colloquial speed unit of MPH, so to appease my own curiosity I've compiled the tables below.
Men's World Records Translated Into Average Speeds
| Event | Record | Athlete | mph | ft/s | km/h | m/s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 m (indoor) | 6.39 s | Maurice Green | 21.00 | 30.81 | 33.80 | 9.39 |
| 100 m | 9.69 s | Usain Bolt | 23.07 | 33.83 | 37.12 | 10.31 |
| 200 m | 19.30 s | Usain Bolt | 23.17 | 33.99 | 37.30 | 10.36 |
| 400 m | 43.18 s | Michael Johnson | 20.71 | 30.38 | 33.34 | 9.26 |
| 800 m | 1:41.11 | Wilson Kipketer | 17.69 | 25.95 | 28.48 | 7.91 |
| 1000 m | 2:11.96 | Noah Ngeny | 16.96 | 24.87 | 27.29 | 7.58 |
| 1500 m | 3:26.00 | Hicham El Geerrouj | 16.28 | 23.88 | 26.21 | 7.28 |
| Mile | 3:43.13 | Hicham El Geerrouj | 16.13 | 23.65 | 25.96 | 7.21 |
| 5000 m | 12:37.35 | Kenenisa Bekele | 14.76 | 21.65 | 23.76 | 6.60 |
| 10000 m | 26:17.53 | Kenenisa Bekele | 14.18 | 20.80 | 22.82 | 6.34 |
| Half Marathon | 58:33 | Samuel Kamau Wanjiru | 13.44 | 19.72 | 21.64 | 6.01 |
| Marathon | 2:04:26 | Haile Gebrselassie | 12.64 | 18.54 | 20.34 | 5.65 |
| 110 m hurdles | 12.87 s | Dayron Robles | 19.10 | 28.02 | 30.74 | 8.54 |
| 400 m hurdles | 46.78 s | Kevin Young | 19.13 | 28.05 | 30.78 | 8.55 |
| 4x100 m relay | 37.40 s | Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell, Carl Lewis -also- Jon Drummond, Andre Cason, Dennis Mitchell, Leroy Burrell |
23.94 | 35.10 | 38.52 | 10.70 |
| 4x200 m relay | 1:18.68 | Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Floyd Heard, Carl Lewis |
22.75 | 33.37 | 36.61 | 10.17 |
| 4x400 m relay | 2:54.20 | Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, Tyree Washington, Michael Johnson |
20.54 | 30.12 | 33.05 | 9.18 |
| 4x800 m relay | 7:02.43 | Joseph Mutua, William Yiampoy, Ismael Kombich, Wilfred Bungei |
16.96 | 24.87 | 27.29 | 7.58 |
Womens's World Records Translated Into Average Speeds
| Event | Record | Athlete | mph | ft/s | km/h | m/s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 m (indoor) | 6.92 | Irina Privalova | 19.39 | 28.44 | 31.21 | 8.67 |
| 100 m | 10.49 s | Florence Griffith Joyner | 21.32 | 31.27 | 34.31 | 9.53 |
| 200 m | 21.34 s | Florence Griffith Joyner | 20.96 | 30.74 | 33.73 | 9.37 |
| 400 m | 47.60 s | Marita Koch | 18.79 | 27.60 | 30.24 | 8.40 |
| 800 m | 1:53.28 | Jarmila Kratochvílová | 15.79 | 23.16 | 25.42 | 7.06 |
| 1000 m | 2:28.98 | Svetlana Masterkova | 15.01 | 22.01 | 24.16 | 6.71 |
| 1500 m | 3:50.46 | Qu Yunxia | 14.56 | 21.36 | 23.44 | 6.51 |
| Mile | 4:12.56 | Svetlana Masterkova | 14.25 | 20.90 | 22.93 | 6.37 |
| 5000 m | 14:11.15 | Tirunesh Dibaba | 13.13 | 19.26 | 21.13 | 5.87 |
| 10000 m | 29:31.78 | Wang Junxia | 12.62 | 18.50 | 20.30 | 5.64 |
| Half Marathon | 1:06:25 | Lornah Kiplagat | 11.83 | 17.36 | 19.04 | 5.29 |
| Marathon | 2:15:25 | Paula Radcliffe | 11.61 | 17.03 | 18.68 | 5.19 |
| 100 m hurdles | 12.21 s | Yordanka Donkova | 18.32 | 26.87 | 29.48 | 8.19 |
| 400 m hurdles | 52.34 s | Yuliya Pechonkina | 17.09 | 25.07 | 27.50 | 7.64 |
| 4x100 m relay | 41.37 s | Silke Gladisch, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald, Marlies Göhr |
21.63 | 31.73 | 34.81 | 9.67 |
| 4x200 m relay | 1:27.46 | LaTasha Jenkins, LaTasha Colander- Richardson, Nanceen Perry, Marion Jones |
20.45 | 29.99 | 32.90 | 9.14 |
| 4x400 m relay | 3:15.17 | Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina, Olga Bryzgina |
18.34 | 26.90 | 29.52 | 8.20 |
| 4x800 m relay | 7:50.17 | Nadezhda Olizarenko, Lyubov Gurina, Lyudmila Borisova, Irina Podyalovskaya |
15.23 | 22.34 | 24.52 | 6.81 |
It's interesting that the 60-meter dashes (and in the men's case, 100-meter dash) don't produce the fastest average times. This must be because accelerating at the start of a race takes some time.
August 19, 2008
12:23 AM
chart shows average speed for each..
what would top or final speed, for instance, in the 100m dash?
thx
August 19, 2008
6:04 AM
John -
I’ve heard that the peak speed for the best 100-meter sprinters is in the neighborhood of 27-30 mph. This will typically be achieved about 2/3 of the way into the race, then the speeds will drop again slightly. Even the best athletes can’t maintain that kind of speed for any distance.
Often when you’re watching the end of a race it will look like one runner surges out in front of another runner, but in fact both are likely to be slowing down. It’s just that one of them is slowing down faster.
August 19, 2008
8:55 AM
i had pondered that with an ‘average’ of 22-23, that the final/peak was 44-46!! thanx for your prompt reply..