A Biomechanical Analysis of Usain Bolt's 9.58WR

In the Beijing Olympics, Bolt stunned the world with a 9.69 performance. Many believed that Bolt had pushed the sport to its limits and that it was humanly impossible to run any faster. Fast forward to the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Bolt struck again by smashing his own WR with a jaw-dropping time of 9.58. This begs the question how much faster can a man run? Is there really a physiological/anatomical limit to speed?

Here are some numbers for you (taken from the IAAF site):

	Reaction Time	20m	40m	60m	80m	100m
Time (s)	0.146	2.89	4.64	6.31	7.92	9.58
	0-20m	20-40m	40-60m	60-80m	80-100m
Velocity (m/s)	6.92	11.43	11.98	12.42	12.05

I would throw a graph at you but I'm lazy to make one. But as you can see, Bolt accelerates way past the 60m mark. This is contrary to conventional wisdom, where speed can only be gained up to the 60m mark and then the athlete must "hold" on to whatever speed he or she has attained for the next 40m. Based on wrong assumptions like these, it was not long ago that researchers believed that a sub 10 second time was impossible. However, Bolt (and other sprinters too I should mention) have slowly chipped away at the 10s barrier, with Bolt leading the way.

So, how much faster can he possibly run? Well, looking at the chart above, Bolt had a reaction time of 0.146, which is not very good for his standards. In comparison the fastest reaction time in that race was 0.123 seconds (Dwain Chambers). At 6'5", Bolt's start will undoubtedly be his weakest part of the race. However there is certainly room for improvement. Also, Bolt's prime years are yet to come. I am almost certain that we will see him break his own record again. My prediction is that he will run a 9.5 in the near future. Bolt has redefined the sport and will continue to do so. It is an exciting time for T&F. We'll just have to wait and see how much more this guy can push the human speed limit.