What is the maximum running speed that can be achieved by an athlete?
Can it be estimated theoretically?
Please give your opinion.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much dear Anastas Ivanov Ivanov
Is there any research to estimate theoretically this maximum speed ?
Yes, maximum speed achieved at sprint distances (classic 100 meters), while the first half of the distance being acceleration, and the maximum speed is reached between 60 and 100 meters. For Usain Bolt, speed is maximum near 80th meter (see Dr. Anastas Ivanov Ivanov's answer), in principle, there are many studies for different athletes, even at such a short distance the speed graphs are very different. So, many benefited from faster asseleration, now there is a tendency to “long overclocking”. Theoretically, maximum speed does not provide the fastest distance time.
By the way, the separation into sprints, middle and long distances is not due to the convenience of classification, but rather objective factors in the biology of athletes. Abilities here are developed by training, but if these are absent, then no training will help (unlike many other sports, where abilities play a smaller role and the lack can be compensated by development of other human properties).
From personal experience: in my youth I decently had ran 100 meters, but if after the start I didn’t see anyone in front, from the middle of the distance I began to hear the pursuers, then at the last 30 meters I was overtaken and liders went forward me as I was “standing”. But 400 meters I was running much more worthy ... By the way, the usual winner of those competitions had best result of 10.4 sec. (manual timing), but could not be faster, because he had rather short stature and ran this distance in 40 steps with stunning speed performance (instead of 33 steps, usual that time) .
Dear Anastas Ivanov Ivanov and Vadim S. Gorshkov ,
Thank you very much for your kind reply.
Humans could run as fast as 40 mph, as studies have suggested. Usain Bolt, the world's fastest runner, has clocked nearly 28 mph in 100-meter sprint. The findings came after researchers took new look at the various factors which limit human speed.
If you take the average speed of the current world 100 m record (Usain Bolt's 9.58 s), you get about 10.44 meters/sec (23.35 miles/hr, 37.58 km/hr). However, if you were to record instantaneous speed at different points throughout the race, the runner would reach a maximum speed much greater than this. An article in the August 1996 Sports Illustrated, mentioned that Canadian Donovan Bailey reached a speed of 27.1 miles per hour (43.6 km/hr) at the 60-meter mark of his world record breaking race.
Although you would expect that over a distance of 200m the runner will slow down after achieving top speed somewhere in the first 100m, Usain Bolt's 200m world record time of 19.19 seconds works out to be an average speed of 10.42, practically the same average speed as for his 100m world record run. This is because the sprinters start from a stationary position and some time is taken up in accelerating up to top speed. In the 200m, the second 100m is covered with a running start. Over the 400m distance, the athlete continues to fatigue, and the average running speed over this distance is of course lower. Michael Johnson's WR time of 43.18 sec for the 400 meters gives a slower average time as expected, 9.3 meters/sec or 33.3 km/hr.
The highest average sprint time is achieved using the world's best time for the 150m sprint, a record also held by Bolt at 14.35 seconds. As this event is rarely run, an even better time would probably be achieved if it was raced more regularly. Average speed over this distance calculates to be 10.45 m/sec.
Split times during sprints can gives us a better indication of top running speed. Michael Johnson's 19.32s over 200 meters earns him an average speed of 10.35 m/s, though his last 100m during this run was covered in 9.10s which gives him 10.99 m/s average for the second 100. At the 1997 Athens World Championships, Maurice Green ran a wind-assisted 9.86 seconds for 100 meters. In this race, 10 m split times were accurately recorded, and from this it was calculated that Green reached a top speed of 11.8 m/s.
The day after Usain Bolt's 9.58 100m world record, the IAAF released details of the split times for that race. The time for each 20m distance of the race was recorded. For Bolt, the fastest interval (60m to 80m) was run at an average speed of 44.72 km/hr (27.79 mph, 12.42 m/s).
The day after Usain Bolt's 9.58 100m world record, the IAAF released details of the split times for that race. The time for each 20m distance of the race was recorded. For Bolt, the fastest interval (60m to 80m) was run at an average speed of 44.72 km/hr (27.79 mph, 12.42 m/s).
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Dear Chinaza Godswill Awuchi ,
Thank you very much for your kind reply...
Dear respected colleagues and scholars. Please participate in the discussion and give your comments.
Thank you very much.
Dear respected colleagues and scholars. Please participate in the discussion and give your comments.
Thank you very much.
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