40 Yard Dash Times for Usain Bolt and Ben Johnson
August 6, 2009 by Jimson Lee · 19 Comments
Football season is around the corner, so it’s time for yet another 40 yard dash post.
You just can’t get away from the 40 yard dash "trash talk" when coaches and athletes float inaccurate numbers from a 40 yard dash time.
The 40 yard dash was an arbitrary number, just like the 72 ounce steak "eat in 1 hour and it’s free" in Amarillo Texas on Route 66. Someone chose 40 yards as the distance a football player needs to run, just like 72 ounces (4.5 pounds or over 2 kilograms!) of steak as simply a very large amount of steak eaten by one human in one sitting.
Comparing a 40 yard dash and a 100 meter sprint is a moot point, but it’s fun to dissect and analyze.
Don’t you hate it when you look at the splits, subtract their reaction time, and calculate Ben Johnson only ran 4.37 and Usain Bolt ran 4.35? (see chart below) These sprinters (among others) are the fastest men in the world in their era, and yet we hear football players with much faster times?
Nothing against Football players, but they don’t train for the 100 meters like true 100 meter sprinters. Ego aside, how can a football player have a faster time than a sprinter?
Then again, the WR for the standing long jump is held by a shot putter, and not a long jumper!
Why Split Times are Bogus?
In the 100m, you accelerate as long as possible to reach top speed, then maintain top speed. You want to cover the distance in the shortest possible time.
The 40 yard dash is similar: your goal is to get to the 40 yard line as fast as possible from a motionless position. You have to overcome inertia, then reach top speed as fast as possible.
The “problem” is World class sprinters take longer to reach top speed because they have a longer acceleration phase. (In reality, the “problem” is a nice thing to have, right?)
Novice 100m runners and female sprinters will reach their top speed sooner, so more of their race will be speed endurance (NOTE to Coaches – worry less about their reaction time and starting blocks, and focus on acceleration and speed endurance. Why work on improving 0.10 seconds when you can improve 1.0 seconds?)
It’s really unfair to use their actual 100 meter race splits and extrapolate their 40 yard dash time AS THEIR TRUE POTENTIAL. Why? Because the extrapolated 40 yard dash time is merely an extrapolation or "split en route" to a 100 meters.
Breakdown of a 100 meter sprint
Everyone is familiar with the different phases of a 100 meter sprint: reaction time, acceleration, transition, maintenance.
Based on the real splits, especially the 30-40m split where the 40 yard lies, they have yet to reach their top end speed.
But what would happen if they "trained seriously" for the event and reached their top speed earlier?
What if Ben Johnson or Usain Bolt trained to run the 40 yard dash (or 36.6 meter dash) as if it was a real event? Some Most football players treat the 40 yard dash as if it were a real event. A good or bad 40 yard dash time can make or break a football combine.
And finally, what if you subtracted 0.24 from their FAT time to downward convert it to a hand time?
We are looking at 3.9 to 4.0 hand time performances!
Fantasy League 40 Yard Dash time
In my example, we are ASSUMING world class sprinters can reach top speed at 30m, and not between 50-60 meter mark.
Thus, to calculate a true 40 yard dash potential:
- reaction time is not considered
- the 0-10m segment is the same as the 100 meters (Phase 1)
- the 10-20m segment is an average speed of the 10-30m segment in a 100m (Phase 2)
- the 20-30m segment is an average speed of the 30-50m segment in a 100m (Phase 3)
- the last 6 meter segment is a pro-rated speed of their top end speed (50-60m) in a 100m (Phase 4)
You can mix and match the distances and phases around to add up to 40 yards. The chart is a fun illustration for discussion purposes. If the 4 phases are equal, then I would calculate using 9.15m splits to equal 36.6 meters.
Jimson,
Thanks for taking my email and turning it into this article. You certainly explained it much more succinctly than I did when I broached the subject with you.
I think I will use this to settle some debates with some friends in football circles.
I look forward to others comments on this topic.
You’re correct, Jimson. It would be off the charts if HB, BJ and company trained for the 40. A special mention for Bob Hayes on being inducted into the Football Hall of Fame yesterday in Canton, Ohio. He undoubtedly was a legitimate world class sprinter who would have also set the standard for the 40 yard dash if the NFL combine system of tests were in place back then. I believe he was the first to break the 6 second barrier in the 60 yard dash. I wonder what position Mr. Bolt would be the most effective at if he ever had been brought up to play football. The NFL coaches would be drooling. Do you think the Canadian Football League has ever approached him or any of the other Jamaican sprinters?
@Fred – I think Usain would be better off playing Rugby!
As far as the CFL goes, they’ll take anyone. Then again, it’s a hard sell with the 3 down football, but the playing field is much bigger.
years ago, on some tv program, there was a sprint race between an Olympic sprinter (Calvin Smith?) and a quarter horse. The sprinter was known for his great starts, and was timed at 3.97 in the 40 yrd distance. I’m not sure what method of timing was used hand held or electronic, but I distictly recall the time
Your assumpions are flawed. World class sprinters do not reach there max speeds until 50-60 meters because THEY ARE world class srinters. IFTHEY COULD reach maximum speed by 30 meters THEN THEY WOULD not be world class sprinters. Put another way, sow me ANYONE who is capable of reaching his maximum speed by 30 meters and I will show you someone who is without question NOT a world class sprinter. Put another way still, the only way for a world class sprinter to be capable of reaching maximum speed at 30 meters is to become reconditioned…hardly a way to improve you 40 time.
Sorry reconditioned should read deconditioned.
Hello Joey,
I’m not sure where you are going with your statements. It seems that you are arguing with yourself about a tangential matter that you’ve perceived. A nice, succinct way of raising a point would be:
For world class sprinters, what is potentially the shortest length someone could reach their max speed while sprinting? I, myself, have no idea but it would be interesting to find out with regards to each individual sprinter.
I do concur with Jimson’s last sentence, “… how can a football player have a faster time than a sprinter?”
Hmmmm…. I made my point 3 different was and still failed to be clear. Let me try again. The 100 meter sprint is just that…a sprint. That is not to say that endurance plays no role but let’s be certain about one thing…world class sprinter run absolutely as fast as they can start to finish. Period…end of story. You say you can’t extrapulate a forty from a spit time and even if you could it isn’t an accurate reflection of their potential 40 because the don’t train for the forty. That of course is rediculous. Do you think world class sprinters and their coaches do not concern themselves with split times? Do you believe slit times are never used in training, rather only on the day of competition so spectators can muse over them and speculate about potential 40 times? I would submit to you world class sprinter train not only for 40 yards (or rather probably 40 meters) but also 10, 20, 60, and 80 meters. I submit that a world class sprinter would happily strive to trim time from any interval in the entire 100 meters and works tirelessly on that very thing. There is no intentional “hold back on the throttle until you get to 60 meter” mentality out there. When Usain Bolt runs the 100 meter dash he runs the first 40 meters (and first 40 yards) just as fast as he possibly can. If you don’t believe it just ask him.
Hello Joey,
You might be 100 percent correct but who are you disputing?
The first sentence of the post:
“Football season is around the corner, so it’s time for yet another 40 yard dash post.”
So, do you think that football players are faster than sprinters in the 40 yard dash?
That’s all.
No, not at all.
Football players posting sub 4 sec 40m? Right – just like WWF wrestlers are really the heights and weights that the announcers always claim them to be. If someone was that much faster than Ben Johnson or Usain Bolt, perhaps they should take a break from the NFL and compete at the next Olympics or World Championships. All it takes is one race to qualify for these…
Hello Vince,
These guys are fast but no sub 4’s yet. They need to be applauded for training for and posting excellent times. Of course, they have quite a bit of cash at stake depending on their performance. I don’t see anything unreasonable about their times. The following are from this year’s NFL Combine. http://www.nfl.com/combine/top-performers
Go to the link and check out their other workout test results. It all matters.
Quarterbacks -
Brown, Jarrett 4.54
LeFevour, Dan 4.66
Robinson, Zac 4.71
Tebow, Tim 4.72
McCoy, Colt 4.79
Lewis, Thaddeus 4.84
Skelton, John 4.85
Hall, Max 4.87
Running Backs -
Best, Jahvid 4.35
Spiller, C.J. 4.37
Tate, Ben 4.43
Mathews, Ryan 4.45
McKnight, Joe 4.47
Hardesty, Montario 4.49
Starks, James 4.50
Miller, Lonyae 4.53
McNeal, Shawnbrey 4.56
McCluster, Dexter 4.58
Wide Receivers –
Ford, Jacoby 4.28
Price, Taylor 4.41
Sanders, Emmanuel 4.41
Tate, Golden 4.42
Banks, Brandon 4.43
Williams, Kyle 4.43
Easley, Marcus 4.46
Roberts, Andre 4.46
Long, Scott 4.46
Mitchell, Carlton 4.49
Tight Ends -
Dickerson, Dorin 4.40
Graham, Jimmy 4.56
Dickson, Ed 4.67
Harbor, Clay 4.69
Moeaki, Tony 4.69
Quarless, Andrew 4.69
Offensive Linemen -
Campbell, Bruce 4.85
Williams, Trent 4.88
Newhouse, Marshall 5.00
Veldheer, Jared 5.09
Smith, Shelley 5.11
Capers, Selvish 5.14
Jerry, John 5.15
Brooks, Dorian 5.16
Tennant, Matt 5.16
Degeare, Chris 5.16
Defensive Linemen -
Davis, Dexter 4.64
Griffen, Everson 4.66
Moats, Arthur 4.66
Hughes, Jerry 4.69
Sapp, Ricky 4.70
Dunlap, Carlos 4.71
Kindle, Sergio 4.71
Graham, Brandon 4.72
Worilds, Jason 4.72
Alem, Rahim 4.75
Linebackers –
Chaney, Jamar 4.54
Watson, Dekoda 4.56
Conner, Kavell 4.63
Grimm, Cody 4.64
Coleman, Harry 4.65
Clayton, Keenan 4.66
Washington, Daryl 4.66
Lawrence, Simoni 4.68
Weatherspoon, Sean 4.68
Edds, A.J. 4.71
Cornerbacks –
Ghee, Brandon 4.45
Cook, Chris 4.46
Owusu-Ansah, Akwasi 4.47
Pender, David 4.47
Jackson, Kareem 4.48
McCourty, Devin 4.48
Thomas, Kevin 4.48
Safeties -
Mays, Taylor 4.43
Berry, Eric 4.47
Wright, Major 4.48
Has anybody thought about the fact that in real sprint events, wind readings are involved. Does anybody ever use a wind gauge when 40 yard dashes are being timed?? Who knows what kind of hurricane winds were assisting some of the better 40 yard times recorded.
Hi rickyw,
The NFL Combine is a tightly run ship with more gauges available and used than we could imagine. These guys leave nothing to chance. If there were any abnormalities with the wind factor during any time, they would have addressed the issue at that time. However, you should get props for thinking critically.
Regardless of any skewed times, my Raiders grabbed 2 of the guys who had the best time by their position. The 49er’s also grabbed 2. Lots of speed this year for the Bay Area. But that’s nothing new for them as Speed City was right down the road in San Jose. Renaldo Nehemiah is a name that comes to mind as I think of speed and playing football in the Bay Area.
Teams that drafted the player with the best time by position in this year’s NFL draft:
Quarterback – Jarrett Brown – San Francsicso – not drafted but signed
Running Back – Jahvid Best – Detroit – 1st round
Wide Receiver – Jacoby Ford – Oakland – 4th round
Tight End – Dorin Dickerson – Houston – 7th round
Offensive Lineman – Bruce Campbell – Oakland – 4th round
Defensive Lineman – Dexter Davis – Seattle – 7th round
Linebacker – Jamar Chaney – Philadelphia – 7th round
Cornerback – Brandon Ghee – Cincinnati – 3rd round
Safety – Taylor Mays – San Francisco – 2nd round