A brief analysis on the physics of the 100-meter sprint

Abstract

In this article we analyze the performance of the Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt in the 100 m sprint at the Summer Olympics in Beijing (2008) and World Championships in Athletics in Berlin (2009). We fitted a function for the velocity and calculated several physical quantities, such as the maximum force, the maximum power, and the total mechanical energy produced by the athlete in both races. By using our simplified model we can say that, despite the smaller time in Berlin, the performance of Usain Bolt, measured in terms of the power and mechanical energy, was better in Beijing.