How fast can humans run?

I'm a runner, so I was a little bit curious.

Here are some statistics and conversions, to give you an idea of how fast elite runners run in major competition. For the sake of comparison, keep in mind that an average hobby runner might run a mile in 8 or 9 minutes (about 7 mph or so). From what I can find, the average speed of a Tour de France biker is about 22-23 mph.

• World record 100 meter: 9.77 seconds, Asafa Powell. This works out to be about 36.8 km/hour, or 22.9 mph.


• World record 1 mile race: 3:43.13, Hicham El Guerrouj. This works out to be 25.96 km/hour, or 16.13 mph.


• World record marathon (26.21875 miles): 2:04:55, Paul Tergat. This works out to be about a 4 minute 45 second mile, or 12.59 mph.

Conclusion: in the longest professional race, (the marathon), the world record holder is running a little less than twice as fast as a hobby jogger over a short distance.

These guys are built like cheetahs.

It's safe to say that Asafa Powell can run faster than 22.9 mph - that's his average speed over the entire race. If you substitute out his starting time, he was going faster. It would be interesting to have a 110 meter race, and derive a 100 meter time by starting the clock when the runner finished the first 10 meters. That might give a more accurate picture of absolute human top speed, factoring out acceleration.