Why It's Almost Impossible to Run 100 Meters In 9 Seconds | WIRED
Summary
TLDRThe video explores why breaking the 9-second barrier in the 100-meter sprint is almost impossible. It features interviews with top sprinters and biomechanists, who explain that speed is determined by how much force an athlete can apply to the ground in a short period. The video discusses the mechanics of sprinting, the physiological limits of human performance, and what it would take to run a 9-second 100 meters. Despite improvements in training and technology, reaching such a speed is unlikely due to intrinsic physical constraints.
Takeaways
- 🏃♂️ Usain Bolt holds the 100-meter world record at 9.58 seconds, running at over 27 miles per hour.
- 💥 Elite sprinters can apply up to five times their body weight in force during a race, in just 0.09 seconds.
- 🚀 The key to fast sprinting is the force applied to the ground, as well as how quickly sprinters reach their top speed.
- 🎯 A perfect start involves maximizing power through the blocks and arm swing for acceleration.
- 💪 Biomechanical factors, such as form and technique, greatly impact how fast sprinters can push off the ground and maintain speed.
- ⏱️ Elite sprinters reach 85-90% of their top speed by the 12th step and can only maintain top speed for a couple of seconds before muscle fatigue sets in.
- 🔬 High-speed cameras and force-sensing treadmills help scientists understand the biomechanics behind elite sprinting.
- ⚡ The fastest sprinters, like Bolt, can hit speeds of up to 12.4 meters per second, requiring immense force and precision.
- ❌ Breaking the 9-second barrier in the 100-meter dash is nearly impossible under current human limits, requiring forces beyond what has been recorded.
- 🧠 Reaction time is crucial in sprinting, with elite athletes practicing to start as quickly as possible without false starting, aiming for times as fast as 0.08 seconds.
Q & A
Why is the 100-meter sprint considered the benchmark for outrunning speed?
-The 100-meter sprint is considered the benchmark for outrunning speed because it is a widely recognized and standardized race that tests the maximum sprinting ability of an athlete over a short distance.
Who currently holds the world record for the 100-meter sprint, and what is their time?
-Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt holds the world record for the 100-meter sprint with a time of 9.58 seconds.
What is the key factor that determines a sprinter's speed during the race?
-The key factor that determines a sprinter's speed is how much force they can apply to the ground and how quickly they can do so.
What special treadmill equipment is used in the research lab to study sprinting performance?
-The research lab uses a force-instrumented treadmill with ultra-high-speed cameras and motion detection capabilities to study sprinting performance.
What is the maximum speed Usain Bolt reached during his world record 100-meter sprint?
-Usain Bolt reached a top speed of 12.4 meters per second, which is just over 27 miles per hour.
Why is it considered nearly impossible to run a 100-meter dash in nine seconds flat?
-Running a 100-meter dash in nine seconds flat is considered nearly impossible due to the extreme forces required, which would need to exceed six times the sprinter's body weight with foot contact times shorter than current human capabilities.
What improvements in sprinting have occurred since Jim Hines broke the 10-second barrier in 1968?
-Improvements in sprinting since 1968 include better track surfaces, advanced training methods, aerodynamic outfits, and more precise timing and verification technology.
What is the primary challenge during the last 30 meters of a 100-meter race?
-During the last 30 meters, sprinters typically slow down due to muscle fatigue, as their ability to maintain top speed is very limited, usually lasting less than two seconds.
How does running with a flying start, as in a relay, allow athletes to cover 100 meters in less than nine seconds?
-In a relay, sprinters can achieve sub-nine-second 100-meter times because they start with momentum, bypassing the stationary start, which removes the acceleration phase from the equation.
What physiological limit prevents sprinters from reacting faster than 0.1 seconds after the starting gun?
-It is considered physiologically impossible for sprinters to react faster than 0.1 seconds because the nervous system's response time to auditory stimuli typically cannot be quicker than this threshold.
Outlines
🏃♂️ The Fastest Humans on Earth
The title of the fastest person on Earth is based on the 100-meter sprint time, a benchmark of human speed. Usain Bolt holds the world record with a time of 9.58 seconds, running at over 27 miles per hour. While elite sprinters give it their all on the track, scientists explore whether more speed can be achieved. The author attempts to learn the intricacies of sprinting with the help of professional athletes and biomechanics experts.
👟 Learning from Elite Sprinters
The author receives sprinting tips from American sprinters Mike Rogers and Bryce Robinson, both of whom have impressive sub-10-second 100-meter dash times. They explain the importance of a strong start, how to properly set up blocks, and how a sprinter's technique, such as arm swing and foot drag, impacts their explosiveness off the line. Despite learning these techniques, the author is no match for the elite sprinters, who outperform him easily.
📊 The Science Behind Sprinting
Biomechanist Peter Weyand explains the factors that determine how fast a person can run the 100 meters: the force applied to the ground and the speed at which it's applied. Usain Bolt and other elite sprinters generate five times their body weight in force, with foot contact lasting only 0.09 seconds. The author tests his speed on a high-tech treadmill at Weyand's lab, running just under 18 miles per hour, while elite sprinters reach over 27 miles per hour. The gap between average runners and elite sprinters becomes evident.
🏅 Breaking Down Sprinting Mechanics
Elite sprinters achieve incredible speeds due to improvements in training, track surfaces, and racing outfits. Sprinters' top speed is primarily a result of their ability to apply force quickly, which is limited by physics. As sprinters accelerate, they reach 85-90% of their top speed within the first 12 steps. Afterward, it's a matter of maintaining speed and managing fatigue. The mechanics and strength of sprinters are what set them apart from regular runners.
⚡ The Limits of Speed
Although sprinters have gotten faster over time, there is a limit to human speed due to physiological constraints. Weyand discusses the theoretical possibilities for faster times, including breaking the nine-second barrier. However, reaching that level would require force and speed that exceed what the human body can currently achieve. The only way to bypass these limits would be through a flying start, like in a relay, where runners can already clock sub-nine-second 100-meter times.
🔬 Reaction Times and the Future of Sprinting
Reaction times are critical in the 100-meter dash, and even the smallest delay can cost a sprinter the race. Top athletes practice reaction timing to achieve near-perfect starts, though sprinters can be disqualified if they start too early. While breaking Usain Bolt’s record may seem unlikely, advancements in sprinting technology and training suggest that new records are still possible, though a sub-nine-second dash remains out of reach for now.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡100-meter sprint
💡Usain Bolt
💡Force application
💡Acceleration
💡Biomechanics
💡Top speed
💡Treadmill test
💡Microgravity
💡Reaction time
💡Nine-second barrier
Highlights
Usain Bolt holds the official world record for the 100-meter dash with a time of 9.58 seconds, running over 27 miles per hour.
Elite sprinters generate massive force into the ground during their sprints—up to five times their body weight in just 0.09 seconds.
Biomechanist Peter Weyand emphasizes that the key to elite sprinting is the amount of force sprinters apply to the ground in a short period.
Advancements in training, track surfaces, and wind-resistant outfits have helped sprinters gradually lower 100-meter times.
Sprinters like Mike Rogers and Bryce Robinson teach optimal block setup and technique, emphasizing foot drag and arm swing for an explosive start.
Sprinters hit 85-90% of their maximum speed by step 12 in a 100-meter dash, illustrating the rapid acceleration phase.
Top sprinters like Robinson can generate five times their body weight in force at top speed, compared to average runners who manage only three times.
The physical limit for a nine-second 100-meter sprint would require a sprinter to generate six times their body weight in force, which is currently beyond human capability.
Sprinters often experience rapid muscle fatigue in the last 30 meters of the race, slowing them down slightly after hitting top speed.
Usain Bolt's peak speed of 12.4 meters per second was instrumental in his world record 100-meter time.
Modern timing systems disqualify sprinters if they leave the blocks less than 0.1 seconds after the gun, based on physiological reaction limits.
Sprinters like Robinson train reaction times to perfection, aiming for the fastest legally allowable start times without false starts.
Flying starts in relay races allow sprinters to cover 100 meters in under nine seconds, as seen in world record 4x100 meter relay times.
A theoretically perfect human sprinter could run a 100-meter dash in the low 9.40s, under ideal conditions.
The force-sensing treadmill at SMU allows researchers to measure precisely how much force sprinters exert, providing valuable data on sprinting limits.
Transcripts
the title for the fastest man or woman
on earth belongs to whoever owns the
100-meter sprint time why because it is
the benchmark for all outrunning speed
and and running
Asaf Apollo gets a good start you sent
both to the Middle East Jamaican
sprinter Usain Bolt is the fastest man
on earth with an official world record
time of nine point five eight seconds in
the hundred meter dash at his fastest
he's running more than 27 miles per hour
elite sprinters look like they leave it
all on the track but could they eke out
just a little bit more somehow today
we're gonna look at why running a
hundred meter dash in nine seconds flat
is almost impossible to find out what it
takes i toad the line with two of
America's top sprinters ran on an absurd
treadmill and talked physiological
limits with a bio mechanist the
determinants of how fast you can
complete a 100 meters or how quickly you
get up to speed and then how fast you
can run once you get there basically
yeah I got a lesson in getting up to
speed from two of the fastest runners on
earth mike rogers and bryce robinson and
then for the setup
obviously you want your fingers behind
line Rogers an olympian has clocked a
nine point eight five second hundred
meter time Robinson a rising track star
is also one of the few sprinters to have
run the 100-meter dash in under 10
seconds they showed me how to set up the
blocks for a good start it was only so
much help go okay what do they do break
came out the blocks you do that
incorrectly pushed out but the release
from the cutters you gotta work on that
point I was basically going forward
try to catch yourself pass class one
last - they push out right see so he's
dragging his back with that foot drag
forces Robinson to keep his rear foot
planted on the block longer and that
gives him a more explosive start
he also swings his arms for maximum
power the drag comes in because you're
trying to push off this thing as long as
you can you don't want it you don't want
to step off the same without push it
this time I'm gonna set up exactly how I
did the first time
I'll get set and then I'm gonna focus on
two things one is gonna be this no drag
coming up on my left foot right doesn't
want to be on that block for as long as
possible
yeah and that kind of forces me to do
this that also has a secondary effect of
keeping me lower right yeah and the
third thing I'm gonna focus on is my
arms after the lesson I asked him to
race but it was early in the season and
these guys weren't about to blow out a
hamstring going full-tilt for a hundred
meters against the guy like me but as
you can see he really didn't have to
they had me beat the moment we left the
blocks they weren't even trying which is
obvious they're two of the fastest
people on earth but why are they so fast
really crazy to find out I talked to
this guy inside the heal recovery issues
are almost irrelevant
I'm Peter Weyand I'm the director of the
locomotor performance lab here at SMU or
we study the mechanical and
physiological basis of human performance
he invites world-class athletes like
Robinson and Rogers and not so
world-class athletes like me to run and
be studied at his lab in Dallas how with
a lot of really cool and really
expensive equipment have some high-tech
custom toys a force instrumented
treadmill and ultra-high speed cameras
with motion detection capabilities that
are very precise his research shows that
the key to elite sprinting is how much
force you can put into the ground and
how fast Usain Bolt or another elite
male sprinter at top speed will put down
five times their body weight
typically in 0.09 seconds or nine
hundredths of a second if a person can
put out those kinds of forces they have
a shot at earning a place on the labs
record board these are the records so
11.7 - for a guy that's that's cooking
it's smoking yeah do you know what do
you know about what that translates to
in miles per hour just under 27 what's a
respectable what's what's like I would
say well you're not being polite or I
would say anything you know eight eight
and a half would be pretty respectable
we're gonna we're gonna shoot for
respectable got my socks
speaking of respectability we didn't
have people put on a ridiculously tight
outfit go do it then I got marked up
with infrared dots and strapped into a
safety harness to run on the labs
force-sensing treadmill why the harness
just listen to this thing
it sounds like a jet taking off it can
go 90 miles per hour Wayne had me warm
up first with a jog then he had me
running for m/s it's about an eight
minute mile five meters per second about
a five and a half minute mile and then
so this treadmill is moving at six point
seven meters per second that translates
to exactly 15 miles per hour which
translates exactly to a four-minute mile
pace I got to feel like Roger Bannister
for about two seconds finally I talked
out at eight meters per second which is
just shy of 18 miles per hour good
that's right at the threshold we had the
treadmill set to 8.1 m/s yeah I was
doing my best to keep up with it but I
was drifting back a little bit drifted I
think we said 20 centimeters which means
I was actually running it around 8 flat
ok so how does that compare to a
world-class sprinter so not bad not bad
it's a respectable speed and an elite
sprinter a male will hit you know
somewhere around 11 and a half or so
fastest ever recorded speed is 12 4 from
Usain Bolt 12.4 meters per second that
kind of speed is what propelled bolt to
his world record time of 9.5 8 seconds
but 50 years ago the great barrier for
sprinting was a 10-second hundred meter
back in 1968 American Jim Hines burst
across the line in nine point nine five
seconds his record stood for 15 years
since then sprinters have been whittling
away hundredths of a second at a time
track surfaces have improved trainings
gotten better and sprinters these days
wear these really tight outfits that
helps with wind resistance as athletes
seek every advantage timing and
verification technology have also gotten
more sophisticated any record set with a
tailwind greater than two meters per
second doesn't count but way and says
there aren't many ways for athletes to
get faster
that's because of basic physics sort of
in big picture science how fast humans
can run 100 meters is really it's it's a
it's all force in relation to body mass
so we use use the analogy of athletes as
being force application machines and
force in relation to mass is what
determines how quickly a sprinter can
accelerate it's what determines their
top speed and there are intrinsic
constraints on force remember it's all
about maximizing your force in as little
time as possible let's look at how that
concept applies over the course of a
race starting in the blocks so there's
the initial push out of the blocks which
is really dependent upon athletes the
muscular force or strength capabilities
and they they get up to almost 1/3 of
their top speed before their foot
initially hits the ground so by far
that's the greatest portion of
acceleration I saw this happen firsthand
as Robinson and Rogers blasted away from
the start line and from me and then
there's a transition phase where what
they do step-to-step changes a little
bit in terms of how much force they can
apply they can apply progressively more
as they this ago step by step further
into the race but they're typically by
step twelve or so there are 85 90 % of
their max speed it doesn't take very
long that max speed is what wind
examines in short bursts at his lap and
they're the mechanical determinate is no
longer sort of their intent intrinsic
strength but but rather it's it's the
motion it's that their mechanics or
technique of sprinting to drive the limb
down into the ground forcefully they
essentially throw up quick sharp punch
at the ground and that maximizes their
force capabilities and then the last 30
meters of the race they typically slow
down and they do so simply because
muscle fatigue is very rapidly and the
period of time that they can sustain
their top speed is very short it's less
than a couple of seconds way it looks at
the forces an athlete applies during
their run and it's in these numbers you
can really see why an elite sprinter is
so much faster once they get rolling the
force on the ground and again that what
they're better doing that everyone else
is applying force in the time available
the force on the ground becomes a motion
based mechanism where they use their
limbs to throw a punch at the ground
let's look at how much more of a punch a
pro can give the grant on the left is me
running at seven point eight two meters
per second on the right is Robinson
doing ten point eight five meters per
second I'm hitting the ground as hard as
I can to keep up with the treadmill with
a force roughly three times my body
weight Robinson weighs about as much as
I do
but he's throwing almost five times his
body weight at the ground and he's doing
it way faster than I can and that weight
is key look what happens when you take
away gravity
this is Usain Bolt running in a
microgravity airplane and even he can't
generate any push back on earth that raw
strength has to be precisely applied to
the track and that's form look at how
much higher Robinson brings his heels
and his knees on each stride those
mechanics are what allow him to maximize
the forces legs deliver to the ground
and clock hundred meter times just under
ten seconds of course you get even
faster when you're training this season
is there a benchmark you're shooting for
or are you just kind of trying to get
the best you can man I I really want to
run nine eight this year this upcoming
year if God's willing it's faster than
that I'll be I'll be happy but I really
want to run really a nine eight if I if
I get that which the main goal is to run
nine 9's consistently I run nine nines
consistently than that nine eight will
pop out there at some point it will but
what if a sprinter wanted to go a lot
faster say nine seconds flat Wayne's
research shows that the human body would
have to exert forces greater than have
ever been recorded it speeds that
probably aren't possible so typically at
top speed they'll put they'll put a
force into the ground that peaks at five
times their body weight and they'll have
a foot ground contact time or period of
force application that's typically 0.09
seconds or nine hundredths of a second
on the very short end point oh eight
five seconds to get to what would be
required for nine flat they would have
to approach six times body weight and a
foot ground contact time of just over
seven hundredths of a second so we're
not gonna see anyone blast across the
line in nine seconds in the hundred
meter dash but that doesn't mean a
sprinter couldn't cover that distance
that fast in fact some of them already
have so if you remove the acceleration
requirement from a stationary start from
the race and you allow a flying start
coming in humans are comfortably under
the nine second barrier already
world record for four by 100 meter relay
held by the Jamaican is about thirty six
point seven or eight seconds so
essentially each person after the one
that ran the opening leg had to average
nine flat for their hundred meter
segments for them to run that fast but
the start is part of what makes the
hundred meter dash so thrilling wait on
that last one you were first out of the
blocks by Maya
so yeah he's right out of the blocks you
guys are both beating really bad that's
not now some of that has to do with
their raw strength but it also has to do
with their incredible reaction times so
do you practice on reaction time stuff
at all we do under current rules if a
sprinter moves before the starting gun
they're automatically disqualified this
actually happened to you saying both at
the World Championships in 2011 what I
like to do is close my eyes and first
thing I hear
mmm-hmm basically does that that'll help
you alleviate past art and stuff like
that you don't hear nothing you don't
move
but here's the thing an athlete can also
be disqualified for leaving the blocks
less than a tenth of a second after the
gun goes off the reasoning is that a
reaction time of less than 0.1 seconds
is physiologically impossible but
research shows some sprinters may
actually be capable of reaction times as
quick as point zero eight seconds I
close my eyes because I used to keep
them open and people people flinch and
do all of that all the weird stuff and
I'm feel like I'm a pretty aware person
so I kind of noticed that stuff and I
would go I'll be hesitant to go because
of it so what is actually possible for
the hundred meter dash and does anybody
stand a chance at breaking bolts records
I would say if you put together a
perfect human being who's you know
exceptional and a perfect race you know
I think certainly something in the nine
forty range low nine 40s maybe a little
bit faster than that under currently
legal conditions should be positive so
keep watching we're probably never gonna
see a nine second hundred meter dash but
remember that what these athletes are
doing is already almost impossible
[Music]
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