Usain Bolt became the 17th holder of the 100m world record in New York last Saturday when he broke fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell’s previous world best, set last August, by two-100ths of a second.
Bolt, who is now aiming for Olympic gold in Beijing, clocked a time of 9,72 seconds to become the fastest man on Earth. It’s a far cry from the first record, set in 1912 by Donald Lippincott of the United States, who was officially the quickest human for nine years before fellow American Charles Paddock claimed his crown.
Since then Jesse Owens, whose record lasted an unrivalled 20 years, Armin Hary and Carl Lewis have all enjoyed the most prestigious track record of them all. Here is a list of the fastest men on earth:
100m world record holders
10,6 seconds, Donald Lippincott (US) — July 6 1912
10,4 seconds, Charles Paddock (US) — April 23 1921
10,3 seconds, Percy Williams (Canada) — August 9 1930
10,2 seconds, Jesse Owens (US) — June 20 1936
10,1 seconds, Willie Williams (US) — August 3 1956
10,0 seconds, Armin Hary (West Germany) — June 21 1960
9,95 seconds, Jim Hines (US) — October 14 1968
9,93 seconds, Calvin Smith (US) — July 3 1983
9,92 seconds, Carl Lewis (US) — September 24 1988
9,90 seconds, Leroy Burrell (US) — June 14 1991
9,86 seconds, Carl Lewis (US) — August 25 1991
9,85 seconds, Leroy Burrell (US) — July 6 1994
9,84 seconds, Donovan Bailey (Canada) — July 27 1996
9,79 seconds, Maurice Greene (US) — June 16 1999
9,77 seconds, Asafa Powell (Jamaica) — June 14 2005
9,74 seconds, Asafa Powell (Jamaica) — September 9 2007
9,72 seconds, Usain Bolt (Jamaica) — May 31 2008 –