Incredible simulation shows how 100m race between Usain Bolt and fastest man from each continent would look
Usain Bolt has covered 100m faster than any other human being in history but there have been elite sprinters from all over the world.
Sprint legend Bolt holds the 100m and 200m world records, both achieved at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
His 100m time of 9.58 seconds stands alone and it was impossible to see how the top contenders of the past and the future would measure up before the wizardry of YouTube channel Motion Athlete and its amazing simulations.
We've seen an animated Bolt against Olympic champion Noah Lyles, against teenage sensation Gout Gout, against an average human, and against a cheetah.
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The cheetah ran 100m in 5.65 seconds but Bolt stands tall among his own species and modelling his performance against the fastest man from each content isn't going to change that.
But it is interesting to watch.
The stunning simulation pits Jamaican icon Bolt, the representative of North & Central America, against five virtual rivals. The results are fascinating.
"Every runner's stride, acceleration pattern, and posture has been reconstructed with care, using frame-by-frame video analysis and data shared by experts in the field," says Motion Athlete.
The video starts with one sprinter alone on the track, adding one at a time before placing all six side-by-side for a direct comparison.
China's Su Bingtian is the Asian representative and takes a big early lead on his way to a time of 9.83 seconds.
Bolt passes him at around the six-second mark and leads the race from there to the finish.
The simulation reveals that Bolt finishes an astonishing 2.2 metres ahead of his nearest rival, Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala, based solely on the modelled races in their real conditions, but Motion Athlete can create a fair race. It has the technology.
Removing wind and altitude differences, it runs the simulation once more.
Su's blistering start makes him the frontrunner again until Bolt streaks past him, but this time silver goes to Italy's 2020 Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs (recorded time 9.80 seconds).
The other sprinters in the simulation are Felipe Bardi of Brazil and Australian's Patrick Johnson.
Like African record holder Omanyala, neither Bardi nor Johnson has an Olympic medal.
Topics: Usain Bolt
Chris Nee