10-second barrier

The 10-second barrier is the physical and psychological barrier of completing the 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds. The achievement is traditionally regarded as the hallmark of a world-class male sprinter. Its significance has become less important since the late 1990s, as an increasing number of runners have surpassed the ten seconds mark. The current men's world record holder is Usain Bolt, who ran a 9.58 seconds at the [2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 100 metres#Final|2009 IAAF World Championship final].
Jim Hines was the first person to ever officially run the 100 metres under 10 seconds at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The fastest non-winning sub-10 performance was by Tyson Gay who clocked 9.71 in 2009 as a runner-up. The only quadragenarian to have run a sub-10 is Kim Collins who ran his personal best time of 9.93 in 2016 at 40 years old, earning him the nickname Ageless Wonder. Justin Gatlin chronologically held the longest streak of sub-10 performances in history, having a sub-10 career in a time-span of 18 years, from his first sub-10 clocking in 2003, to the final one in 2021.

History

For sprints, World Athletics maintains that world records and other recognised performances require: a wind assistance of not more than two metres per second in the direction of travel; fully automatic timing to one hundredth of a second; and no use of performance-enhancing substances. Wind gauge malfunctions or infractions may invalidate a sprinter's time.

Hand timing

Prior to 1977, FAT was not required for IAAF official timings. Times were recorded manually to one tenth of a second; three official timers with stopwatches noted when the starting gun flashed and when the runner crossed the finish line, and their median recorded time was the official mark. Some races also had an unofficial FAT, or semi-automatic time, often in conjunction with photo finish equipment. The first person timed at under ten seconds was Bob Hayes, who ran 9.9 seconds at the Mt. SAC Relays in April 1963, but with a tailwind of. Hayes clocked another illegal 9.9 in the semi-final of the 1964 Olympic 100 metres, with the first sub-10 FAT of 9.91 seconds. In the final, Hayes' official tenths time of 10.0 seconds was calculated by rounding down the FAT of 10.06 seconds; the backup hand-timers recorded 9.8, 9.9, and 9.9, which would have given 9.9 as the official time if the FAT had malfunctioned.
At the 1968 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Charles C. Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California, three men ran legal hand-timed 9.9 seconds: Jim Hines first and Ronnie Ray Smith second in the first semi-final, and Charlie Greene first in the second semi-final. This was dubbed the "Night of Speed", and all three were recognised as world records by the IAAF. The IAAF lists their FATs as: Hines 10.03, Smith 10.14 and Greene 10.10; although Time magazine reported at the time that "an automatic Bulova Accutron Phototimer confirmed that all three had indeed broken ". Hines also had a wind-assisted 9.8 seconds in the heats. Hines went on to win the 1968 Olympic final in 9.9 seconds, rounded down from his FAT of 9.95, making it the first non-wind-assisted electronic sub-10-second performance. By 1976, six other men had equalled the 9.9 hand-timed record, though none of their performances had an FAT mark.

Automatic timing

After the 1977 rule change, Jim Hines' nine-year-old 9.95 was the only recognised sub-10-second race. That year the barrier was broken again, when Silvio Leonard ran 9.98 seconds on 11 August 1977. Both of these marks were recorded at a high altitude, which aids performance due to lower air resistance.
Carl Lewis was the first sprinter to break ten seconds at low altitude under electronic timing, with 9.97 seconds at the Modesto Relays on 14 May 1983. Calvin Smith recorded a world record of 9.93 seconds in Colorado Springs, Colorado on 3 July 1983, at altitude, and became the first sprinter to run under ten seconds twice, in August that year. In total, six sprinters legally broke the barrier during the 1980s. Another, Ben Johnson, had eclipsed both the 9.90 mark in 1987 and the 9.80 mark in 1988, respectively with 9.83 seconds and 9.79 seconds; however, both of these records were rescinded after he tested positive for, and later admitted to, using doping, namely steroids.
The 100 metres final at the 1991 World Championships represented a new zenith in the event: six athletes ran under ten seconds in the same race, and winner Carl Lewis lowered the world record to 9.86 seconds. In second place was Leroy Burrell who also broke the former world record, which had been his at 9.90 seconds. In third place, 0.01 seconds slower than the former world record, was Dennis Mitchell with a time of 9.91 seconds. In fourth place, breaking his own European record of 9.97 seconds, was Linford Christie with a time of 9.92 seconds.
Maurice Greene, in 1999, was the first athlete to run under 9.80. Usain Bolt surpassed 9.70 in 2008, and 9.60 in 2009.
The men's 100 metres final at the 2012 Summer Olympics saw a new Olympic record and seven out of eight finalists running under 10 seconds. However Tyson Gay, was later disqualified from this race. Prior to his disqualification, he had been in fourth place with a time of 9.80 seconds, the fastest fourth place in history.
On 29 May 2016, former World Champion Kim Collins improved his personal best by running 9.93 seconds in Bottrop as a 40-year-old. He improved his own standing as the oldest man to break the 10-second barrier, the first over the age of 40. Omar McLeod, a sprint hurdles specialist, became the first hurdling athlete to break ten seconds in April 2016.
On 4 August 2024, the final of the men's 100 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics marked the first competitive race in history where the entire field finished in under 10 seconds, with last-place-finisher Oblique Seville recording a time of 9.91 seconds.
No woman has recorded an official sub-10 second time yet. The female 100-metre world record is 10.49 seconds, set by American Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.

Electronically timed marks

Date

Athlete

Time

Age

Nationality

Continent

Best

Doping case

Ref

14 October 1968

Jim Hines

9.95

10-second barrier

History

Hand timing

Automatic timing

Electronically timed marks

Totals

Hand timed marks