Featured Image Credit: MotionAthlete/YouTube
Topics: Usain Bolt, NFL, Athletics
Luke Davies
In 2024, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy set an all-time record by clocking a time of 4.21 seconds in the 40-yard dash. But what would happen if he went up against the fastest human to have ever lived, Usain Bolt?
Bolt, 39, remains the fastest person of all time, having set world records in both the 100 metre (9.58 seconds) and 200 metre (19.19 seconds) distances at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany.
Despite many trying – including current Olympic 100 metre champion Noah Lyles – no man has run the 100 or 200 metre distance quicker than Bolt.
However, how would the NFL’s fastest player fare against the great Jamaican?
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YouTube channel MotionAthlete put this to the test in a recent video, and one man came out as a convincing winner.
The account considers variables that make the NFL Combine different from track and field.
The video description reads: “The Combine uses a three-point stance instead of starting blocks, which changes the first steps and the acceleration phase. Second, the surface. NFL athletes run on synthetic turf, while Bolt runs on a track with spikes. That affects traction and force application. Third, the timing system.
“The way times are triggered at the Combine can be very inconsistent. Sometimes the difference between the human trigger and the official electronic time can be surprisingly large. Because of that, I based the simulation on the exact conditions of Xavier Worthy’s run and then extrapolated Bolt’s performance from there.”
Initially, a simulation of Bolt running unchallenged clocks a time of between 4.9 and 4.10 seconds over the 40-yard distance before both men were put up against each other over 40 yards.
Both men’s hands left the virtual ground at the same time, with Bolt’s speed paying dividends around the 20-yard mark before he powered away, leaving Worthy with work to do. The eight-time Olympic gold medallist wound up a comfortable winner.
Su Bingtian, who was the first Asian athlete to break the 10-second sprint barrier, was introduced, with the Chinese sprinter having run the fastest 30 metres ever recorded under any conditions when he clocked 3.73 seconds during his 100 metres best of 9.83 in the semi-finals of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In the simulation, Bingtian started quicker than Bolt and Worthy, eventually finishing fastest with a time of 4.04 seconds over the 40-yard distance.