The Fastest Man in the World Each Year (1963–2026)
Year-by-year list of the world's fastest 100m sprinter from Jim Hines' sub-10 breakthrough in 1968 to Usain Bolt's 9.58 world record and the modern era.
· 7 min read · Rankings & Data
In 1968, Jim Hines became the first man to run 100m in under 10 seconds at the Mexico City Olympics. The electric timing read 9.95. For most of the next two decades, the sub-10 barrier was considered the ceiling of human sprinting.
Usain Bolt made a mockery of that ceiling. His 9.58 in Berlin 2009 is not just a world record - it's a time that still looks like a typo compared to what preceded it.
The eras in this data
**1963-1967:** Hand-timing reliability was poor. These early entries carry caveats about accuracy, but they represent the best-recorded marks of the era.
**1968:** Jim Hines, Mexico City, 9.95. The sub-10 wall breaks for the first time with fully automatic timing.
**1970s-1980s:** Carl Lewis dominates. He appears six times in this table across nearly two decades - an extraordinary span of top-ranked performances.
**1999-2007:** Maurice Greene, then Asafa Powell. Greene ran 9.79 in 1999, which stood for years. Powell chipped away at it through the mid-2000s.
**2008-2013:** The Bolt era. He didn't just beat the record, he reset what humans thought was possible. 9.69, then 9.58.
**2017-2026:** The post-Bolt void. No single sprinter has dominated the way Bolt did. Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Kishane Thompson, and Noah Lyles have all had standout years, but the top time changes hands almost every season.
Year-by-year fastest men's 100m
| Year | Time | Athlete | Country | Location | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 1963 | **10.32** | Arquimedes Herrera | 🇻🇪 VEN | São Paulo, BRA | | 1964 | **10.42** | Bernard Laidebeur | 🇫🇷 FRA | Thonon-les-Bains, FRA | | 1965 | **10.26** | Darel Newman | 🇺🇸 USA | Kiev, URS | | 1966 | **10.45** | Edwin Roberts | 🇹🇹 TTO | San Juan, PUR | | 1967 | **10.21** | Gaossou Kone | 🇨🇮 CIV | Ciudad de México, MEX | | 1968 | **9.95** | Jim Hines | 🇺🇸 USA | Estadio Olímpico, Ciudad de México | | 1969 | **10.32** | John Carlos | 🇺🇸 USA | Stuttgart, GER | | 1970 | **10.40** | Luděk Bohman | 🇨🇿 TCH | Warszawa, POL | | 1971 | **10.19** | Lennox Miller | 🇯🇲 JAM | Cali, COL | | 1972 | **10.07** | Valeriy Borzov | 🇷🇺 URS | Olympiastadion, München | | 1973 | **10.15** | Steve Williams | 🇺🇸 USA | Dakar, SEN | | 1974 | **10.20** | Steve Riddick | 🇺🇸 USA | Zürich, SUI | | 1975 | **10.05** | Steve Riddick | 🇺🇸 USA | Zürich, SUI | | 1976 | **10.06** | Hasely Crawford | 🇹🇹 TTO | Olympic Stadium, Montréal | | 1977 | **9.98** | Silvio Leonard | 🇨🇺 CUB | Guadalajara, MEX | | 1978 | **10.07** | Clancy Edwards | 🇺🇸 USA | Eugene, OR | | 1979 | **10.01** | Pietro Mennea | 🇮🇹 ITA | Ciudad de México, MEX | | 1980 | **10.02** | James Sanford | 🇺🇸 USA | Westwood, CA | | 1981 | **10.00** | Carl Lewis | 🇺🇸 USA | Dallas, TX | | 1982 | **10.00** | Carl Lewis | 🇺🇸 USA | Modesto, CA | | 1983 | **9.93** | Calvin Smith | 🇺🇸 USA | Air Force Academy, USA | | 1984 | **9.96** | Mel Lattany | 🇺🇸 USA | Athens, GA | | 1985 | **9.98** | Carl Lewis | 🇺🇸 USA | Modesto, CA | | 1986 | **9.95** | Ben Johnson | 🇨🇦 CAN | Moskva, URS | | 1987 | **9.93** | Carl Lewis | 🇺🇸 USA | Stadio Olimpico, Roma | | 1988 | **9.92** | Carl Lewis | 🇺🇸 USA | Olympic Stadium, Seoul | | 1989 | **9.94** | Leroy Burrell | 🇺🇸 USA | Houston, TX | | 1990 | **9.96** | Leroy Burrell | 🇺🇸 USA | Villeneuve d'Ascq, FRA | | 1991 | **9.86** | Carl Lewis | 🇺🇸 USA | National Stadium, Tokyo | | 1992 | **9.93** | Michael Marsh | 🇺🇸 USA | Walnut, CA | | 1993 | **9.87** | Linford Christie | 🇬🇧 GBR | Stuttgart, GER | | 1994 | **9.85** | Leroy Burrell | 🇺🇸 USA | Lausanne, SUI | | 1995 | **9.91** | Donovan Bailey | 🇨🇦 CAN | Montréal, CAN | | 1996 | **9.84** | Donovan Bailey | 🇨🇦 CAN | Olympic Stadium, Atlanta | | 1997 | **9.86** | Maurice Greene | 🇺🇸 USA | Athina, GRE | | 1998 | **9.86** | Ato Boldon | 🇹🇹 TTO | Walnut, CA | | 1999 | **9.79** | Maurice Greene | 🇺🇸 USA | Athina, GRE | | 2000 | **9.86** | Maurice Greene | 🇺🇸 USA | Olympiastadion, Berlin | | 2001 | **9.82** | Maurice Greene | 🇺🇸 USA | Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton | | 2002 | **9.89** | Maurice Greene | 🇺🇸 USA | Stadio Olimpico, Roma | | 2003 | **9.93** | Patrick Johnson | 🇦🇺 AUS | Mito, JPN | | 2004 | **9.85** | Justin Gatlin | 🇺🇸 USA | Olympic Stadium, Athina | | 2005 | **9.77** | Asafa Powell | 🇯🇲 JAM | Olympic Stadium, Athina | | 2006 | **9.77** | Asafa Powell | 🇯🇲 JAM | International Stadium, Gateshead | | 2007 | **9.74** | Asafa Powell | 🇯🇲 JAM | Stadio Guidobaldi, Rieti | | 2008 | **9.69** | Usain Bolt | 🇯🇲 JAM | National Stadium, Beijing | | 2009 | **9.58** | Usain Bolt | 🇯🇲 JAM | Olympiastadion, Berlin | | 2010 | **9.78** | Tyson Gay | 🇺🇸 USA | Crystal Palace, London | | 2011 | **9.76** | Usain Bolt | 🇯🇲 JAM | Boudewijnstadion, Bruxelles | | 2012 | **9.63** | Usain Bolt | 🇯🇲 JAM | Olympic Stadium, London | | 2013 | **9.77** | Usain Bolt | 🇯🇲 JAM | Luzhniki Stadion, Moskva | | 2014 | **9.77** | Justin Gatlin | 🇺🇸 USA | Boudewijnstadion, Bruxelles | | 2015 | **9.74** | Justin Gatlin | 🇺🇸 USA | Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha | | 2016 | **9.80** | Justin Gatlin | 🇺🇸 USA | Hayward Field, Eugene, OR | | 2017 | **9.82** | Christian Coleman | 🇺🇸 USA | Eugene, OR | | 2018 | **9.79** | Christian Coleman | 🇺🇸 USA | Boudewijnstadion, Bruxelles | | 2019 | **9.76** | Christian Coleman | 🇺🇸 USA | Khalifa International Stadium, Doha | | 2020 | **9.86** | Michael Norman | 🇺🇸 USA | Fort Worth, TX | | 2021 | **9.76** | Trayvon Bromell | 🇺🇸 USA | Nairobi, KEN | | 2022 | **9.76** | Fred Kerley | 🇺🇸 USA | Hayward Field, Eugene, OR | | 2023 | **9.83** | Zharnel Hughes | 🇬🇧 GBR | Icahn Stadium, New York, NY | | 2024 | **9.77** | Kishane Thompson | 🇯🇲 JAM | National Stadium, Kingston | | 2025 | **9.75** | Kishane Thompson | 🇯🇲 JAM | National Stadium, Kingston | | 2026 | **9.89** | Busang Collen Kebinatshipi | 🇧🇼 BOT | National Stadium, Gaborone |
What stands out across 60+ years
**The 1988 Seoul result is complicated.** Carl Lewis ran 9.92 and was listed as the winner after Ben Johnson's disqualification. Johnson had crossed first in 9.79, which would have been the year-leading time - but the doping ban wiped it.
**Carl Lewis in 1991 is one of the greatest sprints ever.** His 9.86 at the World Championships in Tokyo came at age 30. He'd been running 9.93-9.96 for years. That race also featured six sub-9.93 runs - the deepest fast 100m final in history at the time.
**Patrick Johnson's 9.93 in 2003 is an Australian national record.** He's the only non-African or non-American to lead the world list in 100m in this dataset - a reminder that sprinting depth outside the traditional powerhouses does exist.
**2026 is a slow year at the top.** Kebinatshipi's 9.89 suggests the season hasn't produced a standout performance at time of writing, or conditions haven't aligned for a fast legal run.
Lessons that apply to every runner
The sprint data reinforces something universal: speed is trainable, but also highly heritable. For distance runners, the relevance is indirect - but strides, hill sprints, and short acceleration work genuinely improve running economy for everyone from 5K to marathon.
Check out our [Race Predictor](/tools/race-predictor) to see how improving your raw speed could translate to faster race times across distances, or explore our [Run Planner](/run-planner) to add structured speed sessions to your training week.
Sources
Data sourced from [World Athletics Senior Men's 100m All-Time Toplist](https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/sprints/100-metres/outdoor/men/senior).
Watch the animated year-by-year progression in our video below:
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdYP4hOqYBw)
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