Why is the 100m winner "the world's fastest"?
Question
Why is the man that runs the 100m the fastest man in the world? Shouldn’t it be the man who is fastest over 10m or even 1m?
Phil, Hendon
Answer
Name: Chris, Tilbury
Qualification:
Answer: It goes on the top speed, not distance. If his top speed is 70mph and no one can match that, it must make him the fastest man in the world.
(James O’Brien: But this doesn’t answer why it’s the 100m winner we call the fastest man in the world, not the fastest on top speed.)
** Definitive **
Name: Elliott, Surrey
Qualification:
Answer: At the Olympics, the 100m is the shortest distance run, so the winner of that has to be the fastest man there. If there was a 50m race, the winner of that would be the fastest man. The 100m is arbitrarily chosen, but Usain Bolt is the fastest athlete in an athletics meet.
** Definitive **
Name: Tom, Tunbridge Wells
Qualification: I used to do the 100m
Answer: Elliott is right, but he forgot to point out that sprinters don’t reach their top speed until about 50m, so you couldn’t have a race that is much shorter.