Top 10 Best Sprinters of All Time
You've seen them explode out of the blocks like they were launched from a cannon. You've held your breath for ten seconds or less as they blurred past your screen, chasing records, medals, and the legends who came before. Now it's your turn to weigh in.This list is all about the sprinters who redefined speed. These are the rare athletes who made the 100m and 200m look effortless while everyone else just tried not to pull a hamstring. We're talking about runners who didn't just cross the finish line first, but who made you rewind the race just to watch how clean their form was, how much ground they covered in so little time, or how badly they left everyone else behind.
Some dominated the track for years. Others had shorter careers but packed them with enough Olympic gold and shattered records to make the sports world stop and stare. They came from different eras, competed under different rules, and wore different spikes, but all had one thing in common. They were fast. Not fast for their time. Fast, period.
Usain Bolt is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist from Jamaica. He set world records in both the 100 meters (9.58 seconds) and 200 meters (19.19 seconds) in 2009. Bolt also helped set the 4x100 meter relay world record with the Jamaican team. Anyone making arguments for anyone else is dreaming.
"This guy on this day almost did this." "This guy, when he got a perfect start that time, almost did that." Usain Bolt just won and did it faster than anyone who has ever lived. I think that kind of puts a damper on the whole debate.
I guarantee if you ask the next guys on this list who the GOAT is, they will have the same answer.
His dominance speaks for itself. Jesse Owens got 4 gold medals in one Olympics, but he did only one Olympics. Bolt has done 2 so far with 6 medals and looks set to get 3 in Rio. Carl Lewis also got 4 medals in one Olympics but was not able to repeat in the 200 meters - which Bolt did. Carl Lewis did not break as many world records as Bolt has already done - three alone in Beijing, 2 more in the 2009 Berlin World Championships, 4 by 100 meters record in Daegu in 2011, and a new record in the 4 by 100 in London 2012.
In addition, Bolt is quite simply more popular than Carl Lewis, who is not as comfortable around regular people - fans or not. Lewis is easily irritated by the press and simply has not made as much money as Bolt. Although the American sprinter Bob Hayes was in many ways the best 'raw and physically intimidating' sprinter ever to run the 100 meters, he did one Olympics and then fizzled away. Bolt has done 2 Olympics and is still around preparing for a third.
Michael Johnson won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championship golds during his career. He held the world record in the 200 meters (19.32 seconds) and 400 meters (43.18 seconds). Johnson is the only male athlete to win both the 200 and 400 meters at the same Olympics. Had it not been for a bug from food in Spain, Johnson would have won golds in Barcelona too, thus reigning supreme over three consecutive Olympics in both the 200 and 400 and everything in between. Johnson won his races apparently strolling, hardly breaking a sweat unless he was pushing to beat his own record. He was just way ahead of anyone else and also ran with a shocking, leaning-back style.
Bolt clearly has a huge physical stature, but Johnson's secret was and still remains - amazingly - a total mystery. Even super Bolt manages only a few centimeters ahead of Johnson when breaking Johnson's record. One can only imagine them racing side by side.
Tyson Gay is faster than Michael Johnson. Watch out for Tyson Gay in Rio de Janeiro.
Has the American record in the 100m and tied for second fastest all time. Indoor 200m world record.
He could've beaten Usain Bolt on that one race if he had gotten a good start.
Asafa Powell is an amazing sprinter. If you compare him with Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt, they are the competitors, and the pressure is always on. They have a lot of potential to get a medal in Rio 2016.
He is the most complete sprinter of all time. He has the best start and the best form. He just needs to believe in himself.
Amazing sprinter. It's unfortunate that he got injured in London.
He changed the sprinting style.
Carl Lewis earned nine Olympic gold medals and one silver between 1984 and 1996. He won gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 4x100 meter relay, and long jump. Lewis also captured ten World Championship medals, including eight golds. All sorts of things change with time. Things that improve performances in general. I think the only way to compare athletes is by comparing how they performed against other athletes during the period they performed.
In 1980, Carl Lewis was ranked 8th in the world among sprinters in the 100 meters. From that year through 1992, he was never ranked lower than third, and he didn't drop from the top 10 until 1995. That is 15 years in the top 10. Six times he ranked number 1.
Carl Lewis will always be remembered as the single most captivating sprinter the world of track & field has ever seen in the circuit of Olympic competition. He was consistent and versatile, always winning gold medals in his pursuits.
Allyson Felix has won a total of 11 Olympic medals, making her the most decorated female track and field Olympian. She has competed in five Olympic Games from 2004 to 2020. Felix specialized in the 200 meters early in her career before shifting focus to the 400 meters. She is just amazing. Her zeal in every race is worth admiring. She will be in my books as the greatest sprinter we have seen, even more than the male counterparts.
Allyson Felix is the best sprinter the world has ever seen.
My favorite athlete of all time.
Personally, for me, Milkha Singh is a hero and an idol. A lot of things put him down, but he didn't give up and moved along. He is the greatest athlete of all time.
He may not be the greatest sprinter of all time, but he is certainly the greatest sprinter of India of all time.
I respect Milkha Singh a lot. The main thing is that he sacrificed a lot in his life and broke the world record of 400 meters. The way he took his body to the extreme... I salute him.
9.87 personal best. So you lot might as well shh. And being the best British sprinter at this moment, winning the British trials, he beat Harry Aitkins, Marlin Devonish, and Mark Lewis-Francis.
Dwain Chambers can never match him or even beat him in a race because he's just one of the greatest British sprinters of all time. I believe Dwain Chambers should be at the bottom of the list because he's no role model after the drug ban.
The Newcomers
Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4x100 meter relay. He set or tied four world records in a single day in 1935. Owens' Olympic performance challenged Nazi racial ideology on an international stage. Jesse Owens is one of the greatest sprinters ever. What he accomplished at a time with very limited track technology and training is remarkable. If he had modern weight training and dieting program, he could probably be a contender in the world's first heat.
The track that he used to run on is nothing compared to the modern track, which allows you to bounce off the surface much easier. He also didn't have modern racing shoes, which modern athletes take for granted. If Jesse Owens ran today, I would say he would be close to competing with Usain Bolt.
Yohan Blake won silver medals in both the 100 meters and 200 meters at the 2012 London Olympics. He was part of Jamaica's gold medal-winning 4x100 meter relay teams in 2012 and 2016. Blake ran a personal best of 9.69 seconds in the 100 meters. It's unreasonable that he is not in the top 3. He ran the second-fastest 100m of all time, tied with Gay, but he beats him due to the air conditions (Gay had a +2.0 while Blake had a -0.1). He also ran the second-fastest 200m of all time, and rumors say that had he had the same start reaction as Bolt when he ran the world record, he would be the world record holder.
So, if Bolt never existed, Blake would be the fastest man of all time. But he is not rude and fancy, and that's why no one voted for him. That's sad.
Yohan Blake is the second greatest sprinter. I agree. Number 2, you hear me! Quality, top class. Yohan Blake!
Remember when Donovan Bailey raced Michael Johnson head-to-head to prove who was the fastest? Johnson, currently ranked number 2, faked an injury the instant he realized Bailey was going to win. Johnson never won a race against Bailey.
Should be number 2. Only two sprinters winning a gold medal since '84 haven't tested positive: Bailey and Bolt.
Should be higher than Michael Johnson because he beat him in Toronto!
The Seoul '88 final is one of the greatest and most compelling moments in sporting history, with Ben Johnson the star performer. He was magnificent, exploding out of the blocks, ahead of the field within the first second, leaving the rest trailing in his wake by 50m. Maybe he would be pegged back as the longer-legged Lewis and Christie gathered momentum? Not a chance. Johnson kept going, like a bullet. The one-fingered salute as he strode across the line was a pose befitting the magnificence of his win. He beat America's golden boy Lewis by a mile on the biggest stage of all.
The stadium of circa 90,000 people screamed as he flew along the track in the blistering sunshine. A beautiful stage befitting an amazing moment in time. 9.79 in 1988 was phenomenal and on a par with Bolt's performance in Beijing '08.
However, Johnson had so many characteristics which made him such compelling viewing and an icon - characteristics which Bolt just hasn't got. The quiet bad-guy attitude, the powerful squat muscular look, the thrilling rivalry and bad feeling with Lewis (even better than the Prost-Senna rivalry in F1), the all-red kit of Canada, and the ability to perform under the most incredible pressure. He and Lewis made that the golden era of 100m. How I miss characters like that in sport.
And yes, there is the matter of the steroids, but that moment in time in 1988 was so magnificent, I can't let the drugs cloud my judgment. I'm sure they were all doing it, and he still annihilated them. If Bolt is clean in today's world, then he's magnificent, and I can't fault him as an athlete. But never in my lifetime will anyone ever give me 10 seconds of sheer sporting wonder like Ben did in '88.
It's well stated that he's in the top ten for the 100m, but it should be said that he has the second-best top speed ever, which is 29 mph. He went 27.8 in a 9.7 race, which is right up there. But he also once hit 9.45 in an advertisement where windmills blew at him, but experts said no wind puts him at 9.64. So, he has the second-best 100m and top speed - he hit 0.77 on a 10m split.
It turns out Bolt went faster than 27.8 in his 9.58 PR and also hit 29 mph. There are 10 people who beat 28 mph, including Yohan Blake, Tyson Gay, and Asafa Powell. There are 100 people who ran 27 mph, 2000 people who ran 25 mph, and 20000 people who get over 23 mph under 11.5 seconds.
Justin Gatlin is amazing. He ran an official 9.64 in the 100m sprint. He runs just about as fast as Bolt. He worked so hard in those years in the relays and sprints.
Likely, Gatlin or Coleman could be the best in the 110m hurdles, and Usain Bolt could be the fastest in the 300m hurdles. Justin Gatlin is from Brooklyn. He is cool and strong and has great technique. Usain Bolt and Gatlin can reach 28 mph.
He crushed Michael Johnson's 400m world record and is the only human ever to run under 10 seconds in the 100m, under 20 seconds in the 200m, and under 44 seconds in the 400m. In four years, he will be second only to Usain Bolt.
No, you misunderstand. He is the first person who has ever done all three. Johnson never ran a sub-10 100m. Bolt has never gone sub-44 in the 400m. Van Niekerk has run sub-10, sub-20, and sub-44. ALL THREE!
Wayde is the first and only to run sub-10, sub-20, sub-31, sub-44 (multiple times). Also, he's one of two, along with Michael Johnson, to ever get medals in the 200m and 400m in World Championships. He's the only one of two, along with Michael Johnson, to defend a 400m world title.
Not as fast consistently as Usain Bolt, but for one moment in time, he ran faster than any human being in history. His anchor leg in the Olympic 4X100 relay cannot count for record consideration, but his speed near the finish line in that race exceeds even Bolt's best.
Various sources have his hand time for that leg at an inhuman 8.8 or 8.9. If you watch the grainy black and white footage, it looks like he is literally rocket-propelled. Getting the baton in last place, then making those other top-tier Olympic athletes look like elementary school kids.
He is the fastest white man to ever live. That is saying something. He should be in the top ten.
Underrated. He was the first athlete capable of winning two medals in the Olympic 200m (after him: Lewis, Bolt, and De Grasse) and the only one who reached four Olympic finals in this race. In this race, he held the world record for 17 years and still holds the European record for 43 years. He deserves to be at least in the top 15, just like his main challenger in the era, Valery Borzov.
Are you kidding? He held the world record for 17 years!
The smallest but the greatest!
Frankie Fredericks is a top ten sprinter all day long.
Completely and utterly shameful that Frankie is this low on the list.
Andre De Grasse is the fastest in the world right now. Usain Bolt is the best ever, but Andre is right up there, and no one beats him now.
He ran 100m in 9.89 at 26 mph in the Olympics and a 9.74 that was illegal due to wind, but the wind was weak, so he still would have run a 9.7, so it counts. He also has a slower start than other sprinters, which makes him faster. His best top speed ever was 27.8 mph.
Bolt and a few other sprinters have gone faster than 28 mph. Andre is in the top 15 in 100m and top 10 for max speed.
One of the fastest in the world right now!