Average Sprinting Speed Of A Human

The average sprinting speed for many athletes is 24kmh (15mph). Running at that speed over 100m will give you a time of around 14 seconds.

Elite athletes will be running around 26mph.

Usain Bolt Top Speed

27 miles per hour (43kmh)

During the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Usain Bolt set a world record time of 9.58 seconds for the 100m. During the race, Usain Bolt top speed was  27.8 mph (44.72 km/h). It was accomplished between the 60m and 80m points of the race. The average speed for the entire race was 23.5 mph.

The reason the average is a lot slower than the top speed. It’s because you have to consider the start of the race. Usain Bolt would cover the first 10 m in around 1.8 seconds.

If you’re starting out or training by yourself, many of you will be wondering what’s the average sprinting speeds are other people.

Sure we can look into the average running speeds which Usain Bolt hits during his world records. They are very well documented and make for some interesting reading.

But what about the average runner? The types of people you would be running against in the race or be training with.

Average Jogging Speed

The average running speed is around 8mph for a man. And an average speed of 6.5mph for women.

This is a comfortable gauge for most people, and they would be able to sustain this for a while before needing to stop.

Average Running Speed By Age

Age also has a big factor with the average running speeds. The optimum age would be from 15-35 years of age. If you are younger or older than this age range, you will likely be slowly building up or deteriorating from your optimum average running speed.

Is 20 mph Fast For a Human?

Yes, If you run the entire hundred metres in 20mph, you will get a time of 11.1 seconds.

We know this would be impossible to achieve as the first 10m and the last 10 m tend to be the slowest points of the race. With a top speed of 20 miles an hour, you were likely to have an average speed of around 17mph giving you a time of 13 seconds for the 100m.

Who Is The Fastest Human Ever?

Usain Bolt – With a top speed of 27.8mph Usain Bolt holds the title for the fastest human in the world.

What Could Impact Your Speed

Remember before you go out and start testing yourself, To see what your top speed is compared to the Usain Bolt or your friends.

Factors like wind direction, Temperature, Running surface And even shoes will impact your overall speed and time.

If you are running into a wind that obviously will slow you up. A cooler temperature will mean your muscles don’t fire as explosively as they would do in a warmer climate. Running on an athletics track will be faster than running on the road or path. Last but not least is the shoes, Running spikes will enable you to run faster than if you’re wearing trainers or sneakers.

Conclusion

Within this post, about average sprinting speed, You can see the vast difference between an elite athlete and the average person.

Remember, elite athletes, are training six days a week & multiple sessions per day to be the fastest they can be. The average person can’t invest that time, and therefore, the average speed is slower.

The average sprint speed has a big impact on a lot of events not just in track and field but in various other sports as well.

If your average running speed is quicker on the football pitch, you can run around a lot of people that you ordinarily wouldn’t have done. This will be the same for basketball, baseball, soccer. Most sports the higher average running speeds will be much better for you.

There are many ways to improve your sprint speed which I will go into within another blog post. Once that is completed I will link it here.