Fastest men in history

Usain Bolt▲ Rising

Berlin, 2009: 9.58 seconds, and the sport of sprinting effectively got rewritten in real time as Bolt, chest thumping before the line, turned a world record into a victory lap. He didn't just win races, he ended the conversation about who the fastest man alive was for a decade, stacking three Olympic sweeps and a swagger no rival could touch. Every name on this list is chasing a ghost that hasn't been caught in 15 years, which is exactly why he's number one and not up for debate.

100m PB (x0.01s): 958Olympic golds: 8

added by IJRin 8 rankingsUsain Bolt

Tyson Gay▲ Rising

The American who ran 9.69 in 2009 only to watch Bolt run 9.58 the very same season, forever cast as the game's great runner-up in the wrong era. Three individual golds at the 2007 Worlds and a blistering 19.58 in the 200m prove he had the talent to be an all-time great in any other decade, but a doping suspension and Bolt's shadow define his legacy more than his times do.

100m PB (x0.01s): 969Olympic golds: 0

added by IJRin 2 rankingsTyson Gay

Asafa Powell

Before Bolt, there was Powell, the quiet Jamaican who held the world record at 9.74 and became the first man to consistently dip under 9.9, doing it more times than anyone in history. He was the bridge between the old sprint world and the modern one, but a reputation for freezing on the biggest stages meant his gaudy times never translated into the Olympic or World Championship glory his talent deserved.

100m PB (x0.01s): 972Olympic golds: 0

added by IJRin 2 rankingsAsafa Powell

Fred Kerley

A converted 400m runner who had no business being this fast over 100m, Kerley shocked the sprint establishment by running 9.76 and taking silver at the Tokyo Olympics, proving raw quarter-mile strength could be weaponized into pure short sprint speed. His path from 400m specialist to World Championship 100m gold in 2022 is one of the most unconventional rises in sprinting history.

100m PB (x0.01s): 976Olympic golds: 0

added by IJRin 2 rankingsFred Kerley

Yohan Blake

Nicknamed 'The Beast,' Blake stunned the sprint world by beating Bolt at the 2011 Jamaican trials and going on to run 9.69, still the second-fastest 100m ever recorded. His 2012 Olympic silver double behind Bolt showed he was the closest thing to a true rival Bolt ever faced, but injuries robbed the sport of the rematch era everyone wanted.

100m PB (x0.01s): 969Olympic golds: 0

added by IJRin 2 rankingsYohan Blake

Justin Gatlin

Gatlin's story is one of the sport's great villain arcs: Olympic champion in 2004, banned for doping, and then, remarkably, back on top at 35 when he dethroned Bolt at the 2017 World Championships in London. Fans booed, purists scoffed, but you cannot erase a career that spans two doping suspensions and still produced a sub-9.75 100m past his athletic prime — equal parts talent and controversy.

100m PB (x0.01s): 974Olympic golds: 1

added by IJRin 2 rankingsJustin Gatlin

Christian Coleman

The fastest starter the sport has ever seen, Coleman ran a blistering 9.76 and briefly held the title of fastest man in the world after Bolt's retirement, only for a missed drug-test technicality to sideline him at his athletic peak. His 2019 World Championship gold showed exactly what could have been, a runner built for pure explosive speed whose legacy is haunted by 'what if' more than any name on this list.

100m PB (x0.01s): 976Olympic golds: 0

added by IJRin 2 rankings

Noah Lyles

Lyles turned Paris 2024 into pure theater, winning Olympic 100m gold by five thousandths of a second in the tightest final in history, a showman who backs up the trash talk with a killer's finishing lean. He's the current face of American sprinting, chasing Bolt's shadow with 200m dominance and a personality built for an era that demands charisma as much as speed.

100m PB (x0.01s): 979Olympic golds: 1

added by IJRin 2 rankingsNoah Lyles