10-second barrier facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The 10-second barrier is a super exciting challenge in the world of 100 metres sprinting. It's about running the 100-meter race in less than ten seconds! For a long time, breaking this barrier was seen as a huge achievement for male sprinters, showing they were truly world-class. Today, more and more runners are doing it, but it's still a big deal. The fastest man ever, Usain Bolt, ran it in an amazing 9.58 seconds in 2009.

History of the 10-Second Sprint
- Early Hand Timing Records
- Automatic Timing Era
Official Electronically Timed Records
- Total Records by Year, Country, and Continent
Hand-Timed Records (Older Records)

History of the 10-Second Sprint

When sprinters try to set world records, there are strict rules. The wind helping them can't be too strong (not more than two meters per second). Their time must be measured by a special computer system called "fully automatic timing" (FAT) down to one-hundredth of a second. Also, athletes must not use any performance-enhancing substances. If the wind measuring device doesn't work right, or if there are other rule breaks, a runner's time might not count.

Early Hand Timing Records

Before 1977, official times weren't always measured by computers. Instead, three people with stopwatches would time the race by hand. They would start their watches when the gun flashed and stop them when the runner crossed the finish line. The middle time of the three was the official record.

The very first person to run under ten seconds was Bob Hayes in 1963. He ran 9.9 seconds, but the wind was too strong, so it wasn't an official record. At the 1964 Olympics, Hayes ran 9.91 seconds with automatic timing, but his official hand-timed record was rounded to 10.0 seconds.

A famous moment happened in 1968, called the "Night of Speed". Three sprinters, Jim Hines, Ronnie Ray Smith, and Charlie Greene, all ran 9.9 seconds by hand-timing in the same race. The IAAF (the world athletics group) recognized these as world records. Jim Hines later won the 1968 Olympic 100m in 9.95 seconds, which was rounded down to 9.9 seconds. This was the first time someone officially broke the 10-second barrier with electronic timing without too much wind.

Automatic Timing Era

After 1977, only times measured by computers were officially recognized. Jim Hines' 9.95 seconds from 1968 was the only official sub-10-second time for a while. Then, in 1977, Silvio Leonard ran 9.98 seconds. Both of these early records were set at high altitude, which can help runners go faster because the air is thinner and there's less resistance.

Carl Lewis was the first man to run under ten seconds at low altitude.

Carl Lewis was the first sprinter to break ten seconds at a lower altitude (closer to sea level) with electronic timing. He ran 9.97 seconds in 1983. Later that year, Calvin Smith set a new world record of 9.93 seconds at high altitude and became the first person to run under ten seconds twice.

The 100-meter final at the 1991 World Championships was an amazing race! Six athletes ran under ten seconds in that single race. Carl Lewis won and set a new world record of 9.86 seconds. The second-place runner, Leroy Burrell, also broke the old world record!

In 1999, Maurice Greene was the first to run under 9.80 seconds. Then, Usain Bolt pushed the limits even further, running under 9.70 seconds in 2008 and under 9.60 seconds in 2009. His world record of 9.58 seconds is still the fastest ever!

The year 2008 was a big year for the 10-second barrier. Fourteen different runners achieved this feat a total of 53 times! The men's 100 meters final at the 2008 Summer Olympics saw a new world record and six men run under ten seconds. The 2012 Summer Olympics final was even more impressive, with seven out of eight finalists running under 10 seconds.

In 2016, Kim Collins became the oldest man to break the 10-second barrier at 40 years old, running 9.93 seconds. Also, Omar McLeod, who usually specializes in hurdle races, became the first hurdler to run under ten seconds.

It's important to note that no woman has officially run under 10 seconds yet. The fastest time for women in the 100-meter race is 10.49 seconds, set by American Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.

Official Electronically Timed Records

This table shows the sprinters who have officially broken the 10-second barrier with electronic timing.

Sprinters who have broken the 10-second barrier
#	Date	Athlete	Time 0(seconds)	Age	Nationality	Continent	Best (year)
1	14 October 1968	Hines, JimJim Hines	9.95 A	22 years, 34 days	United States	North America	9.95 (1968)
2	11 August 1977	Leonard, SilvioSilvio Leonard	9.98 A	21 years, 325 days	Cuba	North America	9.98 (1977)
3	14 May 1983	Lewis, CarlCarl Lewis	9.97	21 years, 317 days	United States	North America	9.86 (1991)
4	3 July 1983	Smith, CalvinCalvin Smith	9.93 A	22 years, 176 days	United States	North America	9.93 (1983)
5	5 May 1984	Lattany, MelMel Lattany	9.96	24 years, 269 days	United States	North America	9.96 (1984)
6	9 July 1986	Johnson, BenBen Johnson	9.95	24 years, 191 days	Canada	North America	9.95 (1986)
7	24 September 1988	Christie, LinfordLinford Christie	9.97	28 years, 175 days	United Kingdom	Europe	9.87 (1993)
8	20 May 1989	Stewart, RaymondRaymond Stewart	9.97	24 years, 63 days	Jamaica	North America	9.96 (1991)
9	16 June 1989	Burrell, LeroyLeroy Burrell	9.94	22 years, 115 days	United States	North America	9.85 (1994)
10	25 August 1991	Mitchell, DennisDennis Mitchell	9.99	25 years, 186 days	United States	North America	9.91 (1991)
11	25 August 1991	Fredericks, FrankieFrankie Fredericks	9.95	23 years, 327 days	Namibia	Africa	9.86 (1996)
12	11 September 1991	Cason, AndreAndre Cason	9.99	22 years, 234 days	United States	North America	9.92 (1993)
13	4 April 1992	Adeniken, OlapadeOlapade Adeniken	9.97	22 years, 229 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.95 (1994)
14	18 April 1992	Marsh, MichaelMichael Marsh	9.93	24 years, 258 days	United States	North America	9.93 (1992)
15	18 April 1992	Ezinwa, DavidsonDavidson Ezinwa	9.96	20 years, 148 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.94 (1994)
16	21 May 1993	Effiong, DanielDaniel Effiong	9.99	20 years, 338 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.98 (1993)
17	22 July 1994	Drummond, JonJon Drummond	9.99	25 years, 316 days	United States	North America	9.92 (1997)
18	22 April 1995	Bailey, DonovanDonovan Bailey	9.99	27 years, 127 days	Canada	North America	9.84 (1996)
19	15 June 1995	Surin, BrunyBruny Surin	9.97	27 years, 338 days	Canada	North America	9.84 (1999)
20	21 April 1996	Boldon, AtoAto Boldon	9.93	22 years, 113 days	Trinidad and Tobago	North America	9.86 (1998)
21	12 June 1997	Greene, MauriceMaurice Greene	9.96	22 years, 324 days	United States	North America	9.79 (1999)
22	12 June 1997	Streete-Thompson, KareemKareem Streete-Thompson	9.96	24 years, 74 days	United States	North America	9.96 (1997)
23	12 June 1997	Montgomery, TimTim Montgomery	9.96	22 years, 138 days	United States	North America	9.92 (1997)
24	20 June 1997	Spencer, PercivalPercival Spencer	9.98	22 years, 116 days	Jamaica	North America	9.98 (1997)
25	13 July 1997	Ogunkoya, SeunSeun Ogunkoya	9.97	19 years, 197 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.92 (1998)
26	9 August 1998	Henderson, VincentVincent Henderson	9.95	25 years, 293 days	United States	North America	9.95 (1998)
27	11 September 1998	Thompson, ObadeleObadele Thompson	9.87 A	22 years, 165 days	Barbados	North America	9.87 (1998)
28	5 June 1999	Myles-Mills, LeonardLeonard Myles-Mills	9.98	26 years, 27 days	Ghana	Africa	9.98 (1999)
29	13 June 1999	Chambers, DwainDwain Chambers	9.99	21 years, 69 days	United Kingdom	Europe	9.97 (1999)
30	2 July 1999	Gardener, JasonJason Gardener	9.98	23 years, 287 days	United Kingdom	Europe	9.98 (1999)
31	5 July 1999	Harden, TimTim Harden	9.92	25 years, 159 days	United States	North America	9.92 (1999)
32	2 June 2000	Miller, CobyCoby Miller	9.98	23 years, 227 days	United States	North America	9.98 (2000)
33	2 June 2000	Williams, BernardBernard Williams	9.99	22 years, 135 days	United States	North America	9.94 (2001)
34	21 June 2000	Obikwelu, FrancisFrancis Obikwelu	9.97	21 years, 212 days	Nigeria/ Portugal	Africa	9.86 (2004)
35	12 April 2002	Crawford, ShawnShawn Crawford	9.99	24 years, 88 days	United States	North America	9.88 (2004)
36	21 April 2002	Johnson, Joshua J.Joshua J. Johnson	9.95	25 years, 346 days	United States	North America	9.95 (2002)
37	4 May 2002	Lewis, BrianBrian Lewis	9.99	27 years, 150 days	United States	North America	9.99 (2002)
38	27 July 2002	Collins, KimKim Collins	9.98	26 years, 113 days	Saint Kitts and Nevis	North America	9.93 (2016)
39	5 May 2003	Johnson, PatrickPatrick Johnson	9.93	30 years, 221 days	Australia	Oceania	9.93 (2003)
40	19 July 2003	Aliu, DejiDeji Aliu	9.98	27 years, 239 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.95 (2003)
41	15 August 2003	Capel, JohnJohn Capel	9.97	24 years, 261 days	United States	North America	9.95 (2004)
42	15 August 2003	Gatlin, JustinJustin Gatlin	9.97	21 years, 186 days	United States	North America	9.74 (2015)
43	15 August 2003	Grimes, MickeyMickey Grimes	9.99	26 years, 309 days	United States	North America	9.99 (2003)
44	12 October 2003	Emedolu, UchennaUchenna Emedolu	9.97	27 years, 25 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.97 (2003)
45	12 June 2004	Powell, AsafaAsafa Powell	9.99	21 years, 202 days	Jamaica	North America	9.72 (2008)
46	14 June 2005	Zakari, AzizAziz Zakari	9.99	28 years, 285 days	Ghana	Africa	9.99 (2005)
47	25 June 2005	Burns, MarcMarc Burns	9.96	22 years, 169 days	Trinidad and Tobago	North America	9.96 (2005)
48	25 June 2005	Brown, DarrelDarrel Brown	9.99	20 years, 257 days	Trinidad and Tobago	North America	9.99 (2005)
49	5 July 2005	Pognon, RonaldRonald Pognon	9.99	22 years, 231 days	France	Europe	9.99 (2005)
50	22 July 2005	Scott, LeonardLeonard Scott	9.94	25 years, 184 days	United States	North America	9.91 (2006)
51	25 May 2006	Fasuba, OlusojiOlusoji Fasuba	9.93	21 years, 320 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.85 (2006)
52	25 July 2006	Gay, TysonTyson Gay	9.97	23 years, 350 days	United States	North America	9.69 (2009)
53	18 August 2006	Brunson, MarcusMarcus Brunson	9.99	28 years, 116 days	United States	North America	9.99 (2006)
54	24 April 2007	Atkins, DerrickDerrick Atkins	9.98	23 years, 109 days	Bahamas	North America	9.91 (2007)
55	8 June 2007	Dix, WalterWalter Dix	9.93	21 years, 128 days	United States	North America	9.88 (2010)
56	26 July 2007	Francis, SamuelSamuel Francis	9.99	20 years, 121 days	Qatar	Asia	9.99 (2007)
57	28 September 2007	Spearmon, WallaceWallace Spearmon	9.96	22 years, 278 days	United States	North America	9.96 (2007)
58	3 May 2008	Bolt, UsainUsain Bolt	9.76	21 years, 256 days	Jamaica	North America	9.58 (2009)
59	10 May 2008	Padgett, TravisTravis Padgett	9.96	21 years, 149 days	United States	North America	9.89 (2008)
60	18 May 2008	Thompson, RichardRichard Thompson	9.93	22 years, 346 days	Trinidad and Tobago	North America	9.82 (2014)
61	28 June 2008	Martin, RodneyRodney Martin	9.95	25 years, 189 days	United States	North America	9.95 (2008)
62	28 June 2008	Jelks, MarkMark Jelks	9.99	24 years, 79 days	United States	North America	9.99 (2008)
63	28 June 2008	Patton, DarvisDarvis Patton	9.89	30 years, 207 days	United States	North America	9.89 (2008)
64	28 June 2008	Williams, IvoryIvory Williams	9.94	23 years, 57 days	United States	North America	9.94 (2008)
65	22 July 2008	Carter, NestaNesta Carter	9.98	22 years, 285 days	Jamaica	North America	9.78 (2010)
66	15 August 2008	Martina, ChurandyChurandy Martina	9.99	24 years, 43 days	Netherlands Antilles/ Netherlands	North America/Europe	9.91 (2012)
67	16 August 2008	Frater, MichaelMichael Frater	9.97	25 years, 315 days	Jamaica	North America	9.88 (2011)
68	24 May 2009	Bailey, DanielDaniel Bailey	9.99	22 years, 257 days	Antigua and Barbuda	North America	9.91 (2009)
69	7 June 2009	Rodgers, MikeMike Rodgers	9.94	24 years, 44 days	United States	North America	9.85 (2011)
70	10 July 2009	Blake, YohanYohan Blake	9.96	19 years, 196 days	Jamaica	North America	9.69 (2012)
71	28 August 2009	Clarke, LeroneLerone Clarke	9.99	28 years, 52 days	Jamaica	North America	9.99 (2009)
72	9 July 2010	Lemaitre, ChristopheChristophe Lemaitre	9.98	20 years, 28 days	France	Europe	9.92 (2011)
73	19 August 2010	Kimmons, TrellTrell Kimmons	9.95	25 years, 37 days	United States	North America	9.95 (2010)
74	29 August 2010	Bailey, RyanRyan Bailey	9.95	21 years, 138 days	United States	North America	9.88 (2010)
75	29 August 2010	Forsythe, MarioMario Forsythe	9.99	24 years, 303 days	Jamaica	North America	9.95 (2010)
76	16 April 2011	Mullings, SteveSteve Mullings	9.90	28 years, 139 days	Jamaica	North America	9.80 (2011)
77	23 April 2011	Makusha, NgonidzasheNgonidzashe Makusha	9.97	24 years, 43 days	Zimbabwe	Africa	9.89 (2011)
78	4 June 2011	Ashmeade, NickelNickel Ashmeade	9.96	21 years, 58 days	Jamaica	North America	9.90 (2013)
79	4 June 2011	Bledman, KestonKeston Bledman	9.93	23 years, 88 days	Trinidad and Tobago	North America	9.86 (2012)
80	10 June 2011	Salaam, MookieMookie Salaam	9.97	21 years, 66 days	United States	North America	9.97 (2011)
81	30 June 2011	Ndure, Jaysuma SaidyJaysuma Saidy Ndure	9.99	26 years, 364 days	Norway	Europe	9.99 (2011)
82	6 June 2012	Adams, HarryHarry Adams	9.96	22 years, 192 days	United States	North America	9.96 (2012)
83	7 July 2012	Hyman, KemarKemar Hyman	9.95	22 years, 270 days	Cayman Islands	North America	9.95 (2012)
84	7 September 2012	Bailey-Cole, KemarKemar Bailey-Cole	9.97	20 years, 241 days	Jamaica	North America	9.92 (2015)
85	23 May 2013	Young, IsiahIsiah Young	9.99	23 years, 138 days	United States	North America	9.89 (2021)
86	5 June 2013	Locke, DentariusDentarius Locke	9.97	23 years, 175 days	United States	North America	9.96 (2013)
87	8 June 2013	Mvumvure, GabrielGabriel Mvumvure	9.98	25 years, 105 days	Zimbabwe	Africa	9.98 (2013)
88	21 June 2013	Silmon, CharlesCharles Silmon	9.98	21 years, 352 days	United States	North America	9.98 (2013)
89	13 July 2013	Dasaolu, JamesJames Dasaolu	9.91	25 years, 311 days	United Kingdom	Europe	9.91 (2013)
90	13 July 2013	Vicaut, JimmyJimmy Vicaut	9.95	21 years, 136 days	France	Europe	9.86 (2015)
91	12 April 2014	Magakwe, SimonSimon Magakwe	9.98 A	27 years, 333 days	South Africa	Africa	9.98 (2014)
92	17 May 2014	Brown, KemarleyKemarley Brown	9.93	21 years, 301 days	Jamaica	North America	9.93 (2014)
93	8 June 2014	Ujah, ChijinduChijindu Ujah	9.96	20 years, 95 days	United Kingdom	Europe	9.96 (2014)
94	13 June 2014	Bromell, TrayvonTrayvon Bromell	9.97	18 years, 338 days	United States	North America	9.76 (2021)
95	28 September 2014	Ogunode, FemiFemi Ogunode	9.93	23 years, 136 days	Qatar	Asia	9.91 (2015)
96	10 May 2015	Vaughn, ClaytonClayton Vaughn	9.93	22 years, 360 days	United States	North America	9.93 (2015)
97	17 May 2015	De Grasse, AndreAndre De Grasse	9.97	20 years, 188 days	Canada	North America	9.89 (2021)
98	17 May 2015	Robinson, BryceBryce Robinson	9.99	21 years, 185 days	United States	North America	9.99 (2015)
99	20 May 2015	Bracy, MarvinMarvin Bracy	9.95	21 years, 156 days	United States	North America	9.85 (2021)
100	30 May 2015	Bingtian, SuSu Bingtian	9.99	25 years, 274 days	China	Asia	9.83 (2021)
101	7 June 2015	Gemili, AdamAdam Gemili	9.97	21 years, 244 days	United Kingdom	Europe	9.97 (2015)
102	25 June 2015	Batson, DiondreDiondre Batson	9.94	22 years, 347 days	United States	North America	9.94 (2015)
103	25 June 2015	Lee, BeejayBeejay Lee	9.99	22 years, 48 days	United States	North America	9.99 (2015)
104	25 June 2015	Butler, QuentinQuentin Butler	9.96	22 years, 280 days	United States	North America	9.96 (2015)
105	1 July 2015	Simbine, AkaniAkani Simbine	9.99	21 years, 283 days	South Africa	Africa	9.84 (2021)
106	5 July 2015	Bruintjies, HenrichoHenricho Bruintjies	9.97	21 years, 354 days	South Africa	Africa	9.97 (2015)
107	11 July 2015	Fisher, AndrewAndrew Fisher	9.94	23 years, 208 days	Jamaica	North America	9.94 (2015)
108	12 March 2016	Van Niekerk, WaydeWayde Van Niekerk	9.98 A	23 years, 241 days	South Africa	Africa	9.94 (2017)
109	23 April 2016	McLeod, OmarOmar McLeod	9.99	21 years, 364 days	Jamaica	North America	9.99 (2016)
110	2 June 2016	Webb, AmeerAmeer Webb	9.94	25 years, 75 days	United States	North America	9.94 (2016)
111	6 June 2016	Meïté, Ben YoussefBen Youssef Meïté	9.99	29 years, 208 days	Ivory Coast	Africa	9.96 (2016)
112	8 June 2016	Senoj-Jay Givans	9.96	22 years, 161 days	Jamaica	North America	9.96 (2016)
113	11 June 2016	Aaron Brown	9.96	24 years, 15 days	Canada	North America	9.96 (2016)
114	12 June 2016	Jak Ali Harvey	9.92	27 years, 39 days	Turkey	Europe	9.92 (2016)
115	24 June 2016	Rondel Sorrillo	9.99	30 years, 153 days	Trinidad and Tobago	North America	9.99 (2016)
116	3 July 2016	Coleman, ChristianChristian Coleman	9.95	20 years, 119 days	United States	North America	9.76 (2019)
117	30 July 2016	Joel Fearon	9.96	27 years, 293 days	United Kingdom	Europe	9.96 (2016)
118	17 March 2017	Thando Roto	9.95	21 years, 172 days	South Africa	Africa	9.95 (2017)
119	15 April 2017	Ronnie Baker	9.99	23 years, 182 days	United States	North America	9.83 (2021)
120	22 April 2017	Odean Skeen	9.98	22 years, 237 days	Jamaica	North America	9.98 (2017)
121	13 May 2017	Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake	9.99	23 years, 41 days	United Kingdom	Europe	9.99 (2017)
122	7 June 2017	Cameron Burrell	9.93	22 years, 269 days	United States	North America	9.93 (2017)
123	7 June 2017	Christopher Belcher	9.93	23 years, 129 days	United States	North America	9.93 (2017)
124	23 June 2017	Julian Forte	9.99	23 years, 357 days	Jamaica	North America	9.91 (2017)
125	6 July 2017	Ramil Guliyev	9.97	27 years, 38 days	Turkey	Europe	9.97 (2017)
126	9 September 2017	Yoshihide Kiryū	9.98	21 years, 268 days	Japan	Asia	9.98 (2017)
127	13 May 2018	Kendal Williams	9.99	22 years, 232 days	United States	North America	9.99 (2018)
128	25 May 2018	Jaylen Bacon	9.97	21 years, 293 days	United States	North America	9.97 (2018)
129	25 May 2018	Andre Ewers	9.98	22 years, 352 days	Jamaica	North America	9.98 (2018)
130	9 June 2018	Zharnel Hughes	9.91	22 years, 331 days	United Kingdom	Europe	9.83 (2023)
131	9 June 2018	Noah Lyles	9.93	20 years, 326 days	United States	North America	9.83 (2023)
132	16 June 2018	Arthur Gue Cissé	9.94	21 years, 169 days	Ivory Coast	Africa	9.93 (2019)
133	19 June 2018	Xie Zhenye	9.97	24 years, 306 days	China	Asia	9.97 (2018)
134	22 June 2018	Filippo Tortu	9.99	20 years, 7 days	Italy	Europe	9.99 (2018)
135	9 July 2018	Barakat Al Harthi	9.97	30 years, 24 days	Oman	Asia	9.97 (2018)
136	21 July 2018	Tyquendo Tracey	9.96	25 years, 41 days	Jamaica	North America	9.96 (2018)
137	7 August 2018	Reece Prescod	9.96	22 years, 160 days	United Kingdom	Europe	9.93 (2022)
138	22 February 2019	Roberto Skyers	9.98	27 years, 102 days	Cuba	North America	9.98 (2019)
139	20 April 2019	Divine Oduduru	9.94	22 years, 195 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.86 (2019)
140	11 May 2019	Abdul Hakim Sani Brown	9.99	20 years, 66 days	Japan	Asia	9.97 (2019)
141	12 May 2019	Cravon Gillespie	9.97	22 years, 285 days	United States	North America	9.93 (2019)
142	5 June 2019	Mario Burke	9.98	22 years, 79 days	Barbados	North America	9.98 (2019)
143	20 July 2019	Yuki Koike	9.98	24 years, 68 days	Japan	Asia	9.98 (2019)
144	27 August 2019	Raymond Ekevwo	9.96	20 years, 156 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.96 (2019)
145	20 July 2020	Michael Norman	9.86	22 years, 230 days	United States	North America	9.86 (2020)
146	26 March 2021	Benjamin Azamati-Kwaku	9.97	23 years, 71 days	Ghana	Africa	9.90 (2022)
147	10 April 2021	Kyree King	9.97	26 years, 275 days	United States	North America	9.97 (2021)
148	17 April 2021	Jo'Vaughn Martin	9.94	21 years, 276 days	United States	North America	9.94 (2021)
149	24 April 2021	Fred Kerley	9.91	25 years, 352 days	United States	North America	9.76 (2022)
150	13 May 2021	Marcell Jacobs	9.95	26 years, 229 days	Italy	Europe	9.80 (2021)
151	14 May 2021	Tlotliso Leotlela	9.94	23 years, 2 days	South Africa	Africa	9.94 (2021)
152	6 June 2021	Ryota Yamagata	9.95	28 years, 361 days	Japan	Asia	9.95 (2021)
153	20 June 2021	Kenny Bednarek	9.96	22 years, 249 days	United States	North America	9.89 (2021)
154	20 June 2021	Micah Williams	9.91	19 years, 220 days	United States	North America	9.86 (2022)
155	31 July 2021	Enoch Adegoke	9.98	21 years, 145 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.98 (2021)
156	14 August 2021	Ferdinand Omurwa	9.96	25 years, 224 days	Kenya	Africa	9.77 (2021)
157	16 April 2022	Matthew Boling	9.98	21 years, 300 days	United States	North America	9.98 (2022)
158	16 April 2022	Davonte Burnett	9.99	22 years, 48 days	United States	North America	9.99 (2022)
159	23 April 2022	Joseph Paul Amoah	9.94	25 years, 101 days	Ghana	Africa	9.94 (2022)
160	30 April 2022	Letsile Tebogo	9.96	18 years, 327 days	Botswana	Africa	9.91 (2022)
161	21 May 2022	Oblique Seville	9.86	21 years, 66 days	Jamaica	North America	9.86 (2022)
162	11 June 2022	Cravont Charleston	9.98	24 years, 160 days	United States	North America	9.91 (2023)
163	12 June 2022	Ackeem Blake	9.95	20 years, 142 days	Jamaica	North America	9.89 (2023)
164	24 June 2022	Elijah Hall	9.98	27 years, 306 days	United States	North America	9.90 (2022)
165	24 June 2022	Emmanuel Matadi	9.98	31 years, 70 days	Liberia	Africa	9.98 (2022)
166	25 June 2022	Favour Ashe	9.99	20 years, 58 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.96 (2023)
167	3 July 2022	Yupun Abeykoon	9.96	27 years, 184 days	Sri Lanka	Asia	9.96 (2022)
168	3 July 2022	Reynier Mena	9.99	25 years, 224 days	Cuba	North America	9.99 (2022)
169	3 July 2022	Méba-Mickaël Zeze	9.99	28 years, 45 days	France	Europe	9.99 (2022)
170	29 March 2023	Bouwahjgie Nkrumie	9.99	19 years, 41 days	Jamaica	North America	9.99 (2023)
171	15 April 2023	Terrence Jones	9.91	20 years, 158 days	Bahamas	North America	9.91 (2023)
172	15 April 2023	Joseph Fahnbulleh	9.98	21 years, 216 days	Liberia	Africa	9.98 (2023)
173	26 May 2023	Udodi Onwuzurike	9.91	20 years, 117 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.91 (2023)
174	7 June 2023	Pjai Austin	9.89	22 years, 261 days	United States	North America	9.89 (2023)
175	7 June 2023	Cole Beck	9.97	24 years, 94 days	United States	North America	9.97 (2023)
176	7 June 2023	Godson Oghenebrume	9.96	20 years, 11 days	Nigeria	Africa	9.90 (2023)
177	7 June 2023	Shaun Maswanganyi	9.99	22 years, 126 days	South Africa	Africa	9.91 (2023)
178	9 June 2023	Courtney Lindsey	9.89	24 years, 203 days	United States	North America	9.89 (2023)
179	9 June 2023	Da'Marcus Fleming	9.97	21 years, 170 days	United States	North America	9.97 (2023)
180	2 July 2023	Emmanuel Eseme	9.97	29 years, 319 days	Cameroon	Africa	9.96 (2023)
181	6 July 2023	Rohan Watson	9.98	21 years, 68 days	Jamaica	North America	9.91 (2023)
182	6 July 2023	Kadrian Goldson	9.94	25 years, 240 days	Jamaica	North America	9.94 (2023)
183	6 July 2023	Kishane Thompson	9.91	21 years, 354 days	Jamaica	North America	9.85 (2023)
184	7 July 2023	Ryiem Forde	9.96	22 years, 44 days	Jamaica	North America	9.96 (2023)
185	28 July 2023	Issam Asinga	9.89	18 years, 211 days	Suriname	South America	9.89 (2023)
186	28 July 2023	Erik Cardoso	9.97	23 years, 147 days	Brazil	South America	9.97 (2023)
187	28 July 2023	Ronal Longa	9.99	19 years, 28 days	Colombia	South America	9.99 (2023)
188	9 September 2023	Felipe Bardi	9.96	24 years, 336 days	Brazil	South America	9.96 (2023)

Total Records by Year, Country, and Continent

By year
Year	New Athletes	Total Sub-10s
1968	1	1
1977	1	1
1983	2	3
1984	1	4
1985	0	1
1986	1	1
1987	0	1
1988	1	9
1989	2	2
1990	0	2
1991	3	14
1992	3	6
1993	1	8
1994	1	16
1995	2	5
1996	1	24
1997	5	38
1998	2	34
1999	4	26
2000	3	15
2001	0	16
2002	4	16
2003	6	9
2004	1	33
2005	5	16
2006	3	24
2007	4	18
2008	10	53
2009	4	45
2010	4	36
2011	6	57
2012	3	61
2013	6	58
2014	5	32
2015	12	91
2016	10	60
2017	9	48
2018	11	60
2019	7	50
2020	1	6
2021	11	82
2022	13	78
2023	19	102

By country
Nation	Number of Athletes
United States	70
Jamaica	27
Nigeria	14
United Kingdom	10
South Africa	7
Trinidad and Tobago	6
Canada	5
France	4
Ghana	4
Japan	4
Cuba	3
Bahamas	2
Barbados	2
China	2
Italy	2
Côte d'Ivoire	2
Liberia	2
Qatar	2
Turkey	2
Zimbabwe	2
Brazil	2
Antigua and Barbuda	1
Australia	1
Botswana	1
Cayman Islands	1
Kenya	1
Namibia	1
Netherlands Antilles	1
Norway	1
Oman	1
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1
Sri Lanka	1
Cameroon	1
Suriname	1
Colombia	1

By continent
Continent	Number of Athletes
Africa	35
Asia	10
Europe	19
Oceania	1
North America	119
South America	4

Hand-Timed Records (Older Records)

Before electronic timing was common, some sprinters achieved hand-timed records of 9.9 seconds. These times were recognized as world records at the time, but they might not have been as exact as today's computer-measured times.

Sprinters who have broken the 10-second barrier with manual timing
Date first broken	Athlete	Nationality	No. of times broken
20 June 1968	Jim Hines	United States	2
20 June 1968	Smith, Ronnie RayRonnie Ray Smith	United States	1
20 June 1968	Greene, CharlesCharles Greene	United States	1
21 June 1972	Williams, SteveSteve Williams	United States	4
1 July 1972	Hart, EddieEddie Hart	United States	1
1 July 1972	Robinson, ReyRey Robinson	United States	1
5 June 1975	Leonard, SilvioSilvio Leonard	Cuba	1
3 April 1976	Glance, HarveyHarvey Glance	United States	2
22 May 1976	Quarrie, DonDon Quarrie	Jamaica	1

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10-second barrier Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.