In my previous article Why Usain Bolt is so Dominant (and Tyson Gay, too), I outlined how Usain Bolt’s top speed at 60-80m is over 3 percent faster than Ben Johnson or Mo Greene. That’s quite a bit considering less than 1 percent makes a difference between 1st and 4th.
The other article How Long Does it Take to be a World Class Sprinter? outlined how you can reach World Class anywhere from 1 to 6 years after you demonstrate sprint speed at a younger age.
So we know when but how much better can you perform?
Sure, there are Outliers, but I am trying to get a general average.
If you have time, read You can’t teach speed: sprinters falsify the deliberate practice model of expertise by Michael P. Lombardo and Robert O. Deaner.
As you can see from the chart below, the percentage increase varies from 1 to 5 percent, with about three percent being the norm.
Conclusion?
Unless your kids have a disposition to endurance or aerobic sports, make sure your they are involved in a program that involves speed, power and strength. Then those attributes can be translated to any sport, be it Track & Field, or any other high paid team sport.
Histories of the 20 fastest male American 100m sprinters.
Ranking of sprinters and fastest 100 m times at age 19 and older obtained from U.S.A. Track and Field (http://www.usatf.org) and I.A.A.F. (http://www.iaaf.org) performance data.
| Rank | Name | Year of Birth |
Age when superior sprinting speed first recog-nized |
Age at start of DPc |
Fastest time at age 19 |
Fastest time |
Percent improve- menta |
Years from start of DP to world class statusb |
Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | T. Gay | 1982 | 13 | 13 | 10.27 | 9.69 | 5.64 | 9 | Maloney (2007), Hendershott (2007) |
| 2 | M. Greene | 1974 | 8 | 8 | 10.19 | 9.79 | 3.93 | 13 | Layden (1997), Hendershott (2000), Deford (2001) |
| 3 | L. Burrell | 1967 | 14 | 14 | 10.46 | 9.85 | 5.83 | 7 | Hollobaugh (1991), Nooden (1991) |
| 4 | J. Gatlin | 1982 | 14 | 14 | 10.08 | 9.85 | 2.28 | 6 | Hendershott (2005), Layden (2004) |
| 5 | C. Lewisd | 1961 | NAe | NA | 10.00 | 9.86 | 1.40 | NA | Lewis & Marx (1990), Hurst (1994), Gleason (1980), Hendershott (1989) |
| 6 | S. Crawford | 1978 | 12 | 12 | 10.51 | 9.88 | 5.99 | 11 | Denman (2006) |
| 7 | W. Dix | 1986 | 9 | 14 | 10.06 | 9.88 | 1.79 | 4 | Landman (2008) |
| 8 | R. Bailey | 1989 | 15 | 15 | 10.28 | 9.88 | 3.89 | 5 | Binder (2012) |
| 9 | T. Padgett | 1986 | NA | NA | 10.00 | 9.89 | 1.10 | NA | Clemson University (2014) |
| 10 | D. Patton | 1977 | NA | NA | NA | 9.89 | NA | NA | Patton (2014) |
| 11 | D. Mitchell | 1966 | 6 | 6 | 10.21 | 9.91 | 2.94 | 15 | Hendershott (1994a), USATF (2000) |
| 12 | L. Scott | 1980 | NA | NA | 10.29 | 9.91 | 3.69 | NA | USATF (2008) |
| 13 | A. Cason | 1969 | NA | NA | 10.08 | 9.92 | 1.59 | NA | Hendershott (1994b), IAAF (2014) |
| 14 | J. Drummond | 1968 | 9 | 9 | 10.25 | 9.92 | 3.22 | 14 | Weiss (1991), Reid (1999) |
| 15 | T. Montgomery | 1975 | NA | NA | 10.11 | 9.92 | 1.88 | NA | Hendershott (2002), Abrahamson (2003), Fish (2009) |
| 16 | T. Harden | 1974 | NA | NA | 10.32 | 9.92 | 3.88 | NA | USATF (2001) |
| 17 | C. Smith | 1961 | NA | NA | 10.17 | 9.93 | 2.36 | NA | Martin (1980), Lee (1987) |
| 18 | M. Marsh | 1967 | 11 | 11 | 10.22 | 9.93 | 2.84 | 8 | Hendershott (1993), USATF (1997) |
| 19 | I. Williams | 1985 | 16 | 16 | 10.29 | 9.93 | 3.50 | 7 | Ainsworth (2012) |
| 20 | B. Williams | 1978 | 16 | 16 | 10.45 | 9.94 | 4.88 | 4 | Satterfield (1997), Korth (2000) |
Notes:
Jimson Lee
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