Eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt has now held the world record for the 100m sprint for the longest period in the event’s history–14 years, eight months and 22 days. The Jamaican’s world record of 9.58 seconds (set at the 2009 World Athletics Championships final in Berlin on August 16, 2009) has surpassed the previous longest-held record in the same event, held by American Jim Hines.
Clocking the first sub-10 second 100m in history on June 20, 1968, Hines was a football player and track star who lost and then regained the world record on Oct. 14, 1968. Hines passed away last summer.
Now retired from professional track and field, Bolt stated in an interview in December that he was “not worried” about his records in the 100m and 200m sprints falling any time soon. His world record marks of 9.58 seconds in the 100m and 19.19 seconds in the 200m were both set at the 2009 World Championships.
The 37-year-old said he enjoys still being referred to as the fastest man ever. “It’s a great title to have,” he shared in the same World Athletics interview. “It’s something that I enjoy hearing and I enjoy knowing.”
Bolt first set the 100m record in May 2008, then broke it twice more, in August 2008 and exactly a year later in Berlin, when he ran 9.58.
