Usain Bolt: Room for Improvement

We have previously stated here that we think Usain Bolt can lower the 100 meter world record.

We have suggested that he can start faster, train harder on his fitness and of course refrain from celebrating before crossing the line. All of which suggests that his 9.58 second 100 m and 19.19 second 200 m world records will be broken.

On Saturday the BBC aired a documentary on Usain Bolt "Usain Bolt: The Fastest Man Who Has Ever Lived". In this documentary Michael Johnson, the 400m world record holder and second fastest man over 200m (after Bolt) talks about the biomechanics of Bolts sprinting.

Johnson says of Bolt: "He has ... an incredibly long stride combined with the ability to execute a race like a shorter sprinter - generating the same explosive power. That combination makes him so much faster than the rest of the field."

But he suggests that slow motion video shows that bolt has lateral movement in his sprinting mechanics. In other words he moves his body side to side as he runs. This sideways movement reduces his forward power by wasting energy in keeping his balance. If Bolt were to remain still with his upper body as all good sprinter should, he may be able to propel himself even faster.

Of course the lateral body movement may be a result of other inefficiencies with Bolts mechanics. It is possible that he turns his knees or feet out a little. As Michael Johnson is an excellent  proponent of running mechanics and a highly qualified coach, we are sure that he and his team setup their cameras in the best way to measure these inefficiencies correctly.

One of the most important aspects of video analysis for sports is to ensure that we get video images that will allow us to do the analysis we want. If we are interested in Bolts side to side sway we need to have a camera directly in front and or behind him as he sprints down the track. We want to be able to measure how much his body moves laterally and see if his knees and feet are out of alignment. With this information we can help our athletes improve their mechanics and speed.

Analyzing Usain Bolt's 19.19 Second 200m World Record

The Scientific Research Project at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Championships has released the data for the 200m final and now we can break down Usain Bolts incredible 200m World Record of 19.19 seconds.

Click on the table below to get a closer look.

Let's pick out the key points for this race and see if we can compare them to his 100m splits.

1. Bolt's reaction time in this race is 0.133 seconds. This is much better than his 0.145 second 100m world record reaction time. However we have already discussed this in a previous post and know that Bolt can start fast too.
2. As expected Bolt runs the second 100m (from 100-200m ) faster than the first 100m. This is expected, as the start and getting up to speed takes time, while the second 100 meters can be run at close to maximum speed. Bolt's first 100m was run in 9.92 secs with the second hundred taking only 9.27 secs (a negative split). Interestingly, Michael Johnson ran the second 100 meters of his then World Record breaking 19.32 sec 200m race in 9.20 secs, which is faster than Bolt's second 100m in this race.
3. Bolt's maximum velocity during the 200 meter race occurs somewhere between the 50 and 100 meter mark. His average velocity over this 50m part of the race is 11.57 m/s (25.88 mph). In comparison his 100m maximum velocity was 12.27 m/s (27.45 mph). Once again this is to be expected, as the 200m athletes needs to have reserves to complete the race and cannot run at the same speed as in the 100m race.
4. Bolt slows down over each of the last two 50 meter splits as he begins to fatigue, covering each of the following 50 meter splits 2 tenths of a second slower. Watching the race, we can see that he is really straining to run fast, but he is still slowing down. It is expected that any athlete will slow down over the last 100 meters as the muscles tire, two hundered meters is a long way to go at full speed. We have mentioned that in this World Championships Bolt had already run four 100m races and three 200m heats before lining up for the 200m final. This has us excited at the prospect of seeing Bolt break this 19.19 second World Record, when he is fresh and has not run seven previous races.

All that is left to say is that we can expect Bolt to go faster in the 200 meter and 100 meter races in optimal conditions.

There is one record he does not hold yet and that is of the fastest 100m relay split. This record is held by his Jamaican team mate Asafa Powell in 8.70 secs. The anchor leg relay split is much faster than any of the other sprint splits, because the athletes have a flying start and are therefore able to reach top speed much sooner in the 100 meter distance. If Bolt anchors the 4X100m relay in Berlin this week, we expect that relay split record to be broken.

Comparing Usain Bolt's 100 meter and 200 meter World Records

Usain Bolt continues to amaze us with every race he runs. In destroying his own 200 meter world record from the Olympics, he has now set 5 world records in five Olympic or World Championship event finals in a row.

Watch video of the 200 meter race from the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Championships below. The final recorded time and the new record stands at 19.19 seconds, an incredible 0.11 seconds faster than his previous world record.



The 200 meter sprint record is usually a faster time than if you had to double the 100 meter record. This can be seen if we compare the more recent (since the use of electronic timers) progression of world records between the 2 events. As an example, when Donovan Baily held the world 100m record of 9.84 in 1996, the 200m record was held by Michael Johnson at 19.32 secs. This 200m time is faster than double the 100m record at the time.

In both the 100 and 200 meter races, the athletes start from the blocks and it usually takes them around 60 meters or more to reach maximum speed. In fact we saw from analysis of Usain Bolts 100m world record that he reached top speed at 65 meters in that race. Now in the 100m, the athletes maintain that speed for 40 or so more meters, while in the 200m they have 140m more to go and therefore maintain their top speed for longer. In fact the 200m race often has negative splits for the top athletes, meaning that they run the second 100 meters faster than the first 100 meters.

It is therefore interesting to note that if we double Usain Bolts 100m time (9.58) we get 19.16 secs, which in this case is faster than his new 200m world record of 19.19 secs. I am not trying to make the case that this 200 meter world record is not extraordinary, but why is this the case?
Watching the 200m race, he seems to be straining at the end, by this stage of the race his muscles must be burning, as he tries to maintain his maximum speed. He also said in an interview after the race that he felt tired and well he should after running all the 100m and 200m heats and finals. It is possible that this fatigue meant he could not run the 200m as fast as he possibly can. Seldom has the 100m and 200m world records been held by the same athlete or even broken by the same athlete at the same event and so this may be a factor in his 200m time.

Examining the splits and his maximum velocity to compare his 200m to his 100m world records, will give us more insight into what we can expect from Bolt in the future. From this past records history we can speculate that his 200m record is going to be smashed again soon and the 19.0 second barrier is not out of the question.

It is fantastic watching such an incredible athlete run and we hope to learn as much as possible about his biomechanics by watching and analyzing the video footage.