How fast can the Fastest Humans Run?
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The human body is built for speeds of up to 40 miles per hour, but is the human body built more for speed or more for comfort? Well this may depend on the individual; however, analyzing the fastest human being, Usain Bolt, scientists have found that even though the human frame is built to handle running speeds of up to 40 miles per hour, there are other limiting factors that do not allow humans to run this fast. The limiting factor is not how much brute force is required to push off the ground, but how fast our muscled fibers can contract to ramp up force. Usain Bolt has run at a top speed is 27.3 miles per hour, enough to get a speeding ticket in a school zone, but not fast enough to match other animals like cheetahs, horses, dogs, or even a hopping kangaroo which can travel up to 35 miles per hour.
Scientists’ previous work does not reveal whether it is the amount of time a runner’s foot is on the ground or the force created which increases speed. In testing athletes, scientists found that while hopping on one leg humans generated more power than these speedy animals. Scientists also found that when running backwards, athletes used the same amount of steps as when running forward but with a decrease in speed. From this they concluded that generating force more quickly during the limited time the foot is on the ground is the only way to increase speed. The reason these animals are able to run faster that humans is because their spines actually bend when their feet strike the ground, allowing their feet to be on the ground longer, generating more force.
This study reminds us of the great Roger Bannister who was the first to break the four minute mile barrier. After a devastatingly poor performance at the 1952 Olympics, Roger decided he would set a new goal to break the 4 minute mile. The world record for the mile had been a couple of seconds above 4 minutes for the 9 years prior and many experts believed it was not humanly possible to run a mile in under 4 minutes, even though humans are built to run long distances. However, Roger shattered the experts beliefs and broke the 4 minute mile barrier!
Now that we know that humans can run a mile in under 4 minutes, maybe someday we will be able generate force more quickly and finally be able to run faster than a hopping kangaroo.