Sprint Station

In many sports, the 40-yd dash is a key tool for measuring an athlete's speed. The fastest times ever recorded for humans are right around 4.2-4.3 seconds…how do you compare to the fastest humans on earth?

A runner sprinting at…

• 10 mph would run a 40-yd dash in 8.18 seconds
• 12 mph would run a 40-yd dash in 6.82 seconds
• 14 mph would run a 40-yd dash in 5.8 seconds
• 16 mph would run a 40-yd dash in 5.11

In order to match the fastest runners in the world you would need to run an average of 19 mph over 40-yds!

The world record in the 100-meter dash is 9.74 seconds, held by Jamaica's Asafa Powell. To run this fast he has to average nearly 23 mph over the course of the race, which means there are times during the race when he is actually running much faster than 23 mph.

Participants in the Avera Sports Institute's training programs have cut their times, on average, by .08 seconds in the 10 yd dash and .20 seconds in 40 yd dash.