Athletes vs Animals

The world’s fastest and fittest have descended on the Hungarian capital of Budapest to compete in the 2023 World Athletics Championships, taking place August 19-27. Sporting events like these show just what humans are capable of. But, out of interest, how do the best of our kind compare to the mightiest of the animal kingdom? Perhaps unsurprisingly, not that well.

For example, the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, ran at a top speed of 44.72 kilometers per hour in his world record 100-meter sprint in Berlin in 2009. Even such a pace pales next to that of a cheetah, the fastest animal in the world, which can reach speeds of around 114.5 kilometers per hour while hunting.

In this rather odd hypothetical race, Olympian Michael Phelps too would have to bow out. On his top form, Phelps reached a speed of 7.08 kilometers per hour in an Olympic swimming pool. But as the following chart shows, a sailfish can reach speeds of 110 kilometers per hour under water.

Meanwhile, a contest between human and animal jumpers is at least somewhat in the same ballpark. Where a snow leopard can cover distances of up to 15 meters in a single jump, world record holder Mike Powell set the best mark of 8.95 meters in the long jump in 1991.

Chart and text by: Rene Bocksche

Translated by: Anna Fleck