Fitness Testing > Tests > Speed & Power > Sprint > Scores

Sprint Test Results

Speed or sprint tests are commonly conducted as part of a fitness test battery. The test can be conducted over a range of distances, such as 40 meters or 40 yards, and using stopwatches or timing gates. Over 100 meters, the Olympic sprint distance, the world record is held by Usain Bolt, currently at 9.58 seconds which he ran at the 2009 IAAF World Championships. See a video of his 9.69 seconds WR run at the Beijing Olympics. In this race his last 40m in this race was reportedly covered in 4.19 sec.

American Football

DeMarcus Van Dyke had the best result at the 2011 NFL Combine, with a 4.28 second 40 yard dash.
Dwain Chambers, former champion sprinter now wide receiver, has been rumored to have a very quick 40 time of 4.10 seconds (and that was on grass too). Was this over 40 yards or meters? and possibly a flying 40 (with a running start). More details are being searched for.
The all time best 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine is a hand-timed 4.19 seconds by Deion Sanders (DB), from Florida State in 1989. The fastest electronic timed sprint is 4.24 secs by Chris Johnson in 2008. The fastest ever 10 yard split times at the NFL Combine is 1.40 secs, achieved in 2008-9 by three players: Cedric Peerman, Chris Johnson and Justin King. (more NFL combine results).
Over 10 yards at the 2007 NFL combine, 1.43 seconds was achieved by Aundrae Allison, Eric Weddle and Marcus McCauley, the top three fastest ever recorded up to that time. (more NFL combine results).

Track and Field

US Decathlete Bryan Clay achieved 2.80 sec (20 yards), 3.34 sec (30 yards) and 4.38 sec (40 yards) during a SPARQ testing exercise (testing conducted at Azusa Pacific University, March 25th 2005, published in SPARQ Magazine, Summer 2008).

Rugby

USA Rugby Sevens Coach Al Caravelli defined his ideal Rugby 7s player - among other physical attributes, he should be able to cover 40 metres in 4.6-4.7 seconds (retrieved from boxscorenews.com, Feb 2011).
Average of Newcastle Knights squad (n=78) was 5.33 seconds (range 4.90 - 5.81 sec) (personal communication, Lee Clark). There are more sprint test results over 10, 20 and 30m, and other fitness test results from the Newcastle Knights).
The Springboks in 2007 expected scores for the 40 m sprint ranged from at least 5.10 sec for the outside backs up to 5.65 sec for the props, on grass (more on Springboks norms).

AFL

The best result in the 20m sprint test at the 2011 Draft Combine Draft was 2.86 seconds by Shannon Taylor & Ahmed Saad. See more 2011 results.
A new draft camp combine record for the 20m sprint was set by Joel Wilkinson in 2010 - 2.75 seconds. See 2010 draft camp results.
AFL recruiters are looking for talented local league players who can reach a benchmark of three seconds for the 20-metre sprint, among other characteristics (from an article in the Geelong Advertiser online, July 2010)
An article in the Perth Sunday Times listed the fitness requirements for a range of sports. It stated that West Coast Eagles players need to run 10m in under two seconds (from The Sunday Times, Jan 10, 2010).
At the end of the 2008 pre-season, Jarrod Atkinson set a new 20m sprint record at Essendon. The rookie recorded 2.73 seconds at the Windy Hill sprint track, slicing 0.2 seconds off the mark previously shared by Leroy Jetta, Alwyn Davey and Courtenay Dempsey (Real Footy website, March 2008).
Bomber Mark Johnson recorded 2.89sec for a 20m sprint during the 2007 season, placing him in the elite group at Windy Hill (Herald Sun, Oct 2007).
The 20m sprint test is performed at the Draft Camp each year. Some of the best results in previous years are: Danyle Pearce 2.79s and Ashley Smith 2.80s. See more draft camp results.

Cricket

Pakistani cricketers Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez have a 10m sprint time of 1.79 and 1.80 seconds respectively (from the Match Point blog on the Express Tribune online, March 2011)

Soccer

An article in the Perth Sunday Times listed the fitness requirements for a range of sports. It stated that the players in the West Australian team Perth Glory team must be able to run 5m in under a second and 20m in under 3 seconds (from The Sunday Times, Jan 10, 2010).

procedure for Speed Testing
All about timing gates
Other fitness test results
Video of Usain Bolt's World Record 100m
World Records for Speed tests
More Scores? I scan the internet for the latest athlete results. If you know of something I have missed, I would love to hear from you.