Usain Bolt Has Clear Stance on Losing Accolades Amid British Star's World Record

Usain Bolt's stance on potentially losing his sprint world records has been made clear - as more and more young challengers catch the eye in athletics.

Bolt's time of 9.58 in the 100 metres, set at the 2009 World Athletics Championships, still comfortably stands as the world record time.

It is hard to envisage that time being bettered anytime soon, with Kishane Thompson's 9.75 run earlier this year the fastest time of the past decade.

There are potential future contenders coming through, with 17-year-old Gout Gout recently competing in his first World Championships over 200 metres.

He ran a hand-timed sub-10 second time over 100m earlier this year, but excessive tailwinds meant that it was not ran in legal conditions.

Elsewhere, 14-year-old British sprinter Divine Iheme ran a time of 10.30 seconds last year to smash the U15 world record - and set a time 0.21 seconds quicker than Bolt at the same age.

In August, having turned 15, he won the British U17 100m title with a narrowly slower run - albeit a championship record - of 10.39.

Big win for Divine Iheme in the U17 100m in a champs record of 10.39. pic.twitter.com/y4i5i7UmST

— England Athletics (@EnglandAthletic) August 9, 2025

Bolt can rest easily for the time being at least - but it would appear that, if he was to lose his world record in the future, he would not be too badly affected.

In 2016, Bolt and the Jamaica 4x100m relay team were stripped of their gold medals won at Beijing 2008 after one of their team members, Nesta Carter, was suspended for a doping sanction.

Bolt retired a year later after the 2017 World Athletics Championships, with his Olympic gold tally standing at eight rather than the nine he won on track.

Speaking to AFP after that announcement, Bolt commented: "I am disappointed about losing a medal. But it won't take away from what I have done throughout my career, because I have won my individual events and that's the key thing.

"What can you do? I've done all I wanted in the sport. I have really impacted the sport. I've really accomplished a lot. So for me, I can't complain."