500 metres facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Athletics500 metres |
|
|---|---|
| World records | |
| Men |  David Rudisha 57.69 (2016) |
| Women |  Femke Bol 1:05.63 (2023) |
The 500 metres is a running race that isn't very common in track and field sports. It's a middle-distance running event, which means it's longer than a sprint but shorter than a long-distance race. Think of it as a challenging run that tests both speed and endurance!
Contents
Fastest Times Ever in the 500 Metres
This section talks about the fastest times ever recorded for the 500 metres race. These are the athletes who have run this distance quicker than anyone else!
When you see the times, sometimes there are special letters next to them. Here's what they mean:
- i means the race happened indoors (inside a building).
- OT means the track was oversized, which means it was bigger than the usual 200-metre indoor track.
- A means the race happened at a high altitude (high up in the mountains), where the air is thinner and can sometimes help runners go faster.
- h means the time was taken by hand (with a stopwatch), not by an automatic electronic system.
Men's Top Times
The fastest time ever recorded by a man in the 500 metres is held by David Rudisha from Kenya. He ran it in an amazing 57.69 seconds in 2016! This was on a road, not a track. Other top runners include Mark English and Martyn Rooney.
Times That Weren't Counted
Sometimes, a super-fast time might not be officially counted as a record. For example, a runner named Roddie Haley ran very fast times (59.82 seconds and 59.90 seconds) indoors in Oklahoma City in 1986 and 1987. However, these times were not accepted as official records because the track he ran on was not measured correctly. It's important for tracks to be the exact right size for records to count!
Women's Top Times
For women, the fastest time in the 500 metres was set by Femke Bol from the Netherlands. She ran it indoors in 1 minute and 5.63 seconds in 2023, which is incredibly fast! Before her, Tatana Kocembova from Czechoslovakia held a very fast hand-timed record. Other top female runners include Olesya Krasnomovets and Lynsey Sharp.
