Welcome to Tudo Sprints! Home of the fastest where speed is king of this jungle. From the islands of the Caribbean to the shores of Africa up to big cities of Europe and the USA. Whether you grew up racing on the streets of wherever you’re from, the sands of the beaches or you was privileged enough to have a track either way only one question mattered. Who’s the fastest of them all? 60m, 100m, 200m or 400m speed kills at any of these distances where we live life in the fast Lane all in the name of 40 seconds or less. Survival of the fastest where it’s hunt or be hunted. Whether old or young, amateur or professional nothing and I mean nothing tops the rush of adrenaline you get when the starter calls you to your blocks. Enjoy the show and be sure not to blink or you’ll most certainly miss it.
60m
The truest test of pure speed, perfect execution and raw power. The 60m is no joke where one misstep is enough to cost you this race. 7 seconds is all most of us have to make our mark here even less so for the greats. Christian Coleman reigns supreme in this event holding the current world record set in 2018 of 6.34 seconds but with contenders hot on his tail like Su Bingtian, Ronnie Baker, Trayvon Bromell, Marvin Bracy and the newly crowned Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs it could be anyone’s race on any given day. Block clearance and reaction time are everything in this event. In the history of the 60m only 2 men have dipped below that ever elusive 6.4s barrier one being the legendary Maurice Greene and our current record holder Christian Coleman himself.
100m
Known as the blue ribbon event of the Olympic Games this is the one race every sprinter dreams of winning. From Gatlin at Athens in 2004 to Bolt’s emphatic message to the world in the Birds Nest in Beijing in 2008 to the defence of his 100m title at the infamous 2012 London Olympics which is said to have been the greatest Olympic 100m race of all time, to his legacy securing triple gold title in Rio De Janeiro in 2016 to our most recently crowned Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs in the controversial Tokyo Olympics.
This race is the one true universal test of who the fastest human is on the planet. However with the Olympics being every 4 years the World Athletics Championships is as good of an indicator as any as to who wants it more! But this too has also been dominated by Bolt over the last decade until the emergence of Christian Coleman who is our most recent world champion in this event in the post Bolt era boasting a time of 9.76s. There is said to be 3 phases which must be executed perfectly to achieve an optimal 100m race.
- The start,
- The drive,
- Max velocity phase.
However recent research challenges these beliefs providing evidence that it might be more effective to run the race as a continuous acceleration while reaching your top speed later in the race as opposed to breaking it into the 3 different phases we’ve all been taught.
200m
Perhaps the most elegant and intricate of the 4 sprint disciplines. The feel of turn, staggers being made up and the slingshot effect off of the bend that we all desire. The 200m can feel like a smooth and well executed fly by or a lactic acid attack on your body if not ran correctly.
Some bear the question as to if its possible for a human to run the 100m in under 9 seconds which just isn’t a reality for the human body currently however the great Usain Bolt actually made us believe that it might just be possible to run this race in under 19 seconds with his world record run of 19.19s at the Berlin World Championships in 2009.
This event has seen many star athletes attempt to pick up where Bolt left off with the likes of Noah Lyles, Fred Kerley, Michael Norman, Yohan Blake, Erriyon Knighton and our current Olympic champion Andre De Grasse. This event is respected amongst all sprinters worldwide. Known as one of the most tactically challenging races out of all the sprint events it is only one of two of the sprint events ran both indoors and outdoors the other being the 400m.
The 200m while still being a flat out sprint has its own separate phases that differ to the 100m such the start/acceleration, the float phase, the slingshot phase and the transition into the straightaway. The pros do a great job of making these phases look a lot easier than they are but like the introduction said speed kills at any distance!
400m
The quarter mile! Two turns and two straights. Even though the 200m is extremely tactically demanding the 400m sits at the top of that list quite comfortably it must be said, the pace management and fatigue tolerance of this event is second to none with it being dubbed by some “The quarter mile of death.”
The 400m world and Olympic title has seen many owners from the likes of the unorthodox Michael Johnson to the Bahamian giant Steven Gardiner who is the current World and Olympic Champion to the South African sensation and World record holder Wayde Van Niekerk who covered the distance in a mesmerising 43.03s at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The execution of this race requires a precise knowledge of a pace that’s manageable and can be maintained to keep you in contention with enough energy reserved to kick at the right moment. Too early and you’ll fade when it matters the most and too late and you’ll be leaving yourself too much work to do on the home straight. Speed also matters here but willpower and the desire to win also play a huge factor in this one lap race. 400m runners are said to be the jack of all trades types in the sprint world possessing the ability to be competent over any sprint distance as proven by the likes of Fred Kerley, Michael Norman and Wayne Van Niekerk all clocking in under 10s for the 100m, 20s for the 200m and 44s for the 400m.
Jahde Williams
World Records
Usain Bolt
Berlin, GER ('09)
9.58 (+0.9)
Florence Griffith-Joyner
Indianapolis, USA ('88)
10.49 (0.0)
Usain Bolt
Berlin, GER ('09)
19.19 (-0.3)
Florence Griffith-Joyner
Seoul, KOR ('88)
21.34 (+1.3)
Wayde Van Niekerk
Rio de Janeiro, BRA ('16)
43.03
Marita Koch
Canberra, AUS ('85)
47.60
Current World Leaders
Ferdinand Omanyala
Nairobi, KEN
9.85 (+2.0)
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Nairobi, KEN
10.67 (-0.4)
Erriyon Knighton
Baton Rouge, USA
19.49 (+1.4)
Christine Mboma
Gaborone, BOT
21.87 (+0.6)
Steven Gardiner
Baton Rouge, USA
44.22
Charokee Young
Florida, USA
49.87