100m statistics

Usain Bolt is widely regarded as being the fastest man who ever lived, and to some, unbeatable.

His 9.58 seconds World Record is 0.11 seconds faster than anyone else has ever run.

In the build up to the London 2012 Olympics, I thought I'd have a look at where the contenders stand in terms of track record and see just how far ahead he is of the rest of the field.

There are 3 athletes contending who stand out from the rest in terms of their PBs:

9.58 Usain Bolt
9.69 Tyson Gay
9.72 Asafa Powell

Number of races under 9.80:

Usain Bolt - 9 times
Asafa Powell - 8 times
Tyson Gay - 7 times

Usain's 9.58 is the only one time anyone has ever run faster than Tyson Gay's PB, including Usain Bolt.

Asafa Powell is the sprinter who has clocked the most sub 10.00 races ever (over 80 times!)

The current rankings for this year:

9.76 - Usain Bolt
9.85 - Asafa Powell
10.00 - Tyson Gay (first race back since injury, into a 1.5m/s headwind)

In the latest Powell v Bolt race, Powell had the better start and led up to the half way mark before Bolt came through with a strong last 30m - a sign that he isn't as far ahead as many believe.

Usain and Asafa have both run sub-10 3 times so far this year. So has Justin Gatlin who recently prompted controversy by hinting that he could be the man to beat Bolt. Yohan Blake is another contender with a 9.84 clocking this year.

Providing Bolt, Powell and Gay make it through to the final, injury free (we all hope), it could just be the most amazing race we've ever seen, and perhaps not the runaway victory for Bolt that many people expect....

Here's the second fastest run of all time - Tyson Gay after a terrible start. What could he run if he nails his start?