What will the WR time in the 100m dash be in 20 years?

jdip9

It dropped from 9.93 to 9.69 in the last 20 years....but how low can it go? Seems like only Bolt can run sub 9.6.

I can't imagine it going any lower than 9.55.

halosfan

If Bolt decides to run all 100 meters all out maybe 9.52 ... maybe a ungodly 9.49.

No one out there can touch this guy right now. He is putting up video game numbers and making it look real easy

jdip9

You know what I keep thinking - what if this one performance was the absolute apex of Bolt's career? In other words, that was his only shot at a sub 9.6.....think he'd be disappointed that he coasted for the last 15m?

bdunndchi

I think he deserves that. He should have run the whole thing instead of beating his chest and raising his arms up. He seemed kind of put off when the interviewer asked him what he could have run if he would have run the whole thing. I'm not one for showboats.

aro13

The World Record really has only dropped from 9.79 to 9.69 in the last 20 years.

Based on that I believe the record will be under 9.60. The women's record of 10.49 set in 1988 basically exceeded projections by 50 years.

jdip9

aro - see attached....9.79 was the standard in 1999.

WR progression

I agree that it will be under 9.60, but by how much? 9.50 seems utterly inhuman, but who knows

aro13

jdip9 - Ben Johnson ran a 9.79 in 1988. His World Record in Rome the previous year was 9.83 (which he did not test positive for steroid use). Most, if not all, 100 meter runners viewed the 9.79 as the real record. At that time Johnson's coach Charlie Francis felt Ben was capable of getting the record into the 9.6 range. Bolt is faster and younger than Ben was so I suppose before he is done a 9.50 is conceivable.

IrishMike

Depends on how much better drug and blood doping tests become.