How Fast Can Humans Run

How fast can humans run? The fastest person clocked on our planet today is the Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt, who ran the 100-meter sprint at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in a world record of 9.58 seconds, which works out to be about 37.6 kilometers per hour or 23.4 miles per hour. For a brief period during that sprint, Bolt reached an astounding 12.3 meters per second (27.51 mph or 44.28 kph).nd (27.51 mph or 44.28 kph). As a physical activity, running is qualitatively different from walking. In running, a persons legs flex and the muscles are forcibly stretched and then contracted during acceleration. The potential gravitational energy and the kinetic energy available in a persons body changes as the center of mass in the body changes. That is thought to be because of the alternating release and absorption of energy in the muscles. Elite Runners Scholars believe that the fastest runners, the elite sprinters, are those who run economically,  meaning that they use a low amount of energy per unit of distance run. The ability to do that is influenced by muscle fiber distribution, age, sex, and other anthropometric factors. The fastest of the elite runners are young men. The possible velocity of a runner is also influenced by biomechanical variables, somewhat controversially attributed to the cycle of the runners gait. Factors thought to influence a persons velocity are shorter ground contact times, lower stride frequencies, longer swing times, greater stride angles, and longer strides. In particular, sprint runners maximize their acceleration and maximum sprinting velocities by applying greater mass-specific ground forces, specifically horizontal ankle velocity, contact time, and step rate. Long-Distance Runners When considering velocity, sports researchers also look at long-distance runners, those who race distances between 5 and 42 km (3 and 26 mi). The fastest of these runners use considerable plantar pressure (the amount of pressure the foot puts on the ground) as well as changes in biomechanical parameters, movement of the legs as measured over time and space. The fastest group in marathon running  (like that of sprinters) is men aged between 25 and 29. Those men have an average velocity between 170 and 176 meters per minute, based on marathons run in Chicago and New York between 2012 and 2016.​ Because the New York City marathon runs in waves (that is to say, there are four groups of runners who begin the race at about 30-minute intervals) statistics are available for runner velocities at 5 km segments throughout the race. Lin and colleagues used that data to provide support to the notion one factor of speed is competition; runners increase speed and change positions more frequently at the end of the race. The Upper Limits So how fast could humans run? In comparison to other animals, humans are very slow; the fastest animal on record is the cheetah at 70 mph (112 kph); even Usain Bolt can only attain a fraction of that. Recent research on the most elite runners have led sports medicine specialists Peter Weyand and colleagues to suggest in  press reports that the upper limit might reach 35 to 40 mph: but no scholar has been willing to put a number on that in a peer-reviewed publication to date. Statistics According to Rankings.com, the fastest three male and three female sprinters in the world today are: Usain Bolt (Jamaica), 9.58 seconds, set at the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing, 10.44 meters per secondTyson Gay (United States) 9.69, during the 2008 Olympic Trials, 10.32 m/sAsafa Powell (Jamaica) 9.72, heats at the 2007 IAAF Rieti Grand Prix 10.29 m/sFlorence Joyner Griffith (US) 10.49,  1988 Olympics in Seoul, 9.53 m/sCarmelita Jeter (US) 10.64, Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, 2009, 9.40 m/sMarion Jones (US), 10.65, IAFF World Cup, 1998, 9.39 m/s The three fastest marathon runners, male and female, are, according to Runners World: Dennis Kimetto (Kenya), 2:02:57, Berlin Marathon 2014Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia), 2:03:03, Berlin 2016Elud Kipchoge (Kenya), 2:03:05, London 2016Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain), 2:15:25, London, 2003Mary Keitany (Kenya) 2:17:01, London, 2017Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) 2:17:56, London, 2017 Fastest Humans on Earth Runner Mi Per Hour Km Per Hour Usain Bolt 23.350 37.578 Tyson Gay 23.085 37.152 Asafa Powell 23.014 37.037 Florence Joyner Griffith 21.324 34.318 Carmelita Jeter 21.024 33.835 Marion Jones 21.004 33.803 Dennis Kimetto 12.795 20.591 Kenenisa Bekele 12.784 20.575 Elud Kipchoge 12.781 20.569 Paula Radcliffe 11.617 18.696 Mary Keitany 11.481 18.477 Tirunesh Dibaba 11.405 18.355 Sources Lin Z, and Meng F. 2018. 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