Scientists reveal whether Usain Bolt's 100m world record will ever be broken

Scientists have revealed whether they believe Usain Bolt's incredible 100m world record will ever be broken.

Bolt has held the world record since 2008, when he set a time of 9.72 seconds at a Grand Prix meet in New York.

The Jamaican then went quicker at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, running a time of 9.69 in the 100m final.

But Bolt didn't stop there, running a sensational 9.58 at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin.

The current men's world record for the 100 meter sprint race is 9.58 seconds

This is Jamaica's Usain Bolt setting it in 2009.pic.twitter.com/nYHP4Q3d4u

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 3, 2024

Perhaps unsurprisingly, that record has not come close to being broken by another athlete, with Noah Lyles' 100m final-winning time of 9.79 standing as his own personal best but still 0.16 seconds behind Bolt's winning time at London 2012.

No other sprinter has run a time of under 9.70 since 2012, with Bolt's great rivals Tyson Gay and Yohan Blake both running 9.69 in 2009 and 2012 respectively.

The Jamaican himself told the Obi One Podcast last month that he did not envisage his world record being broken by the current generation of sprinters.

In 2022, scientists Polly McGuigan and Aki Salo theorised that Bolt's record could be broken in the future, and believe that a 100m time of under nine seconds may be possible to achieve.

But they caveat this claim by stating that a mixture of genetics and training would be needed - meaning that time would not be even remotely possible for a number of generations.

Their findings read: "A combination of genetics and training would need to produce bum, thigh and calf muscles which are a little bit stronger and faster than the current best sprinters.

"A muscle with a high proportion of large, fast twitch muscle fibres will be able to generate larger amounts of force more quickly than a muscle with a lower proportion.

"It's safe to say that someone will break the nine second barrier - not necessarily in our lifetime, but it will happen one day."