How fast can you run?

As runners we all have an interest in measuring our fitness. One way to do this is to measure out a 100 meters and then see how quickly you can cover that distance. In an article on the BBC web site readers are then invited to compare their time against the following figures: 15.4 seconds for men and 17.3 for women. These might not seem to be particular tough targets, (except for runners like Guthrie) even though they are far from the current world records of 9.69 and 10.49. But then consider that these were the slowest 100m sections covered in the respective Olympic 1500m finals last summer! Research following the Beijing Games has shown that every athlete in both those races ran 14 further 100m stretches faster than those times, and without a break!

These figures were obtained from a revolutionary timing system, where all distance running athletes each wore a tiny transponder on the inside of their front bib number.

Click on the link to read the full article: How Olympic finals were won and lost.