Average speed during Olympic athletics records 2024| ��ƽ��

Average speed maintained while setting Olympic records in athletic events from 1980 to 2024 (in kilometers per hour)

Event	Men's	Women's
4x100m	39.09	35.28
100m	37.38	33.93
200m	37.31	33.74
400m	33.47	29.89
4x400m	32.84	29.51
400m Hurdles	31.35	28.59
110m/100m Hurdles	30.67	29.36
800m	28.54	25.39
1,500m	26.01	23.35
5,000m	23.14	20.78
3,000m Steeplechase	22.35	20.27
10,000m	22.46	20.48
Marathon	20.02	17.71
20km Race Walk	15.23	14.11
50km Race Walk	13.83	-

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Release date

August 2024

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

1980 to 2024

Supplementary notes

Please note that the figures in the graph are not the top speeds reached by the competitors, but rather their average speeds throughout the duration of the event. Figures have been calculated by ��ƽ�� based on the numbers provided by the linked source.

The original men's Olympic Records are as follows:
4x100m: Jamaica, 2012 - 36.84 seconds
100m: Usain Bolt (Jamaica), 2012 - 9.63 seconds
200m: Usain Bolt (Jamaica), 2008 - 19.3 seconds
400m: Wayde Van Niekerk (South Africa), 2016 - 43.03 seconds
4x400m: U.S., 2024 - 174.43 seconds
400m Hurdles: Karsten Warholm (Norway), 2021 - 45.94 seconds
110m Hurdles: Xiang Liu (China), 2004 - 12.91 seconds
800m: David Rudisha (Kenya), 2012 -100.91 seconds
1,500m: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway), 2021 - 208.32 seconds
5,000m: Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia), 2008 - 12 minutes, 57.82 seconds
3,000m Steeplechase: Conseslus Kiproto (Kenya), 2016 - 8 minutes, 3.28 seconds
10,000m: Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda), 2024 - 26 minutes, 43.14 seconds
Marathon: Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia), 2024 - 126 minutes, 26 seconds
20km Race Walk: Ding Chen (China), 2012 - 78 minutes 46 seconds
50km Race Walk: Jared Tallent (Australia), 2012 - 216 minutes, 53 seconds

The original women's Olympic Records are as follows:
4x100m: U.S., 2012 - 40.82 seconds
100m: Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica), 2021 - 10.61 seconds
200m: Florence Griffith-Joyner (U.S.), 1988 - 21.34 seconds
400m: Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic), 2024 - 48.17
4x400m: Soviet Union, 1988 - 195.17 seconds
400m Hurdles: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (U.S.), 2024 - 50.37 seconds
100m Hurdles: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico), 2021 - 12.26 seconds
800m: Nadezhda Olizarenko (Soviet Union), 1980 - 113.43 seconds
1,500m: Faith Kipyegon (Kenya), 2024 - 231.29 seconds
5,000m: Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (Kenya), 2016 - 14 minutes, 26.17 seconds
3,000m Steeplechase: Gulnara Samitova-Galkina (Russia), 2008 - 8 minutes, 52.76 seconds
10,000m: Almaz Ayana (Ethiopia) 2016 - 29 minutes, 17.45 seconds
Marathon: Tiki Gelana (Ethiopia) 2012 - 142 minutes, 55 seconds
20km Race Walk: Yelena Lashmanova (Russia), 2012 - 85 minutes, 2 seconds

All speeds, when converted into miles per hour, are as follows:
4x100m: 24.29 (m), 21.92 (w)
100m: 23.23 (m), 21.09 (w)
200m: 23.19 (m), 20.97 (w)
400m: 20.8 (m), 18.58 (w)
4x400m: 20.52 (m), 18.34 (w)
400m Hurdles: 19.48 (m), 17.77 (w)
110m/100m Hurdles: 19.06 (m), 18.28 (w)
800m: 17.74 (m), 15.78 (w)
1,500m: 16.11 (m), 14.51 (w)
5,000m: 14.38 (m), 12.92 (w)
3,000m Steeplechase: 13.89 (m), 12.6 (w)
10,000m: 13.96 (m), 12.73 (w)
Marathon: 12.44 (m), 11.01 (w)
20km Race Walk: 9.47 (m), 8.77 (w)
50km Race Walk: 8.6 (m)

Citation formats

When comparing the average speeds across Olympic athletic events, the 4x100 meter relay was the fastest event for both men and women as of 2024. When setting the Olympic Records in 2012, Jamaica's men's team ran at over 39km/h throughout the event, while the United States' women's team ran at over 35 km/h. Both of these speeds are more than 1km/h faster than those recorded in the individual 100m sprints.

Hurdles

One possibly surprising result when it comes to average speed is in the men's 110m Hurdles, where Xiang Liu's speed in 2004 was actually slower than that of Kevin Young in the 400m hurdles in 1992. The reasons for this were the difference in heights of the hurdles and the tighter spaces between them, which prevent athletes from maintaining their top speed in the 110m event. In contrast to this, the women's 100m hurdles was more than 1km/h faster than in the women's 400m hurdles, as the hurdle measurements are disproportionally smaller in comparison to the men's measurements.

What is the Olympic marathon record?

One of the most grueling Olympic events is the marathon. Remarkably, despite the marathon being over four-times the length of the 10,000m track event, the average speed for the record Olympic marathon times was only marginally slower than the 10,000m event. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, new record times were set for both the men's and women's marathon, at 2:06:26 and 2:22:55, respectively.