Sprinting has evolved since the first Olympics in 1896 to the point where humans are running the 100 m dash 2.41 s faster [see the article below-nice graph & video]. Projections peg the fastest 100 m time at a possible 9.21 s.

In homage to the Olympics and the new era of sprinting [tall & lanky], lets look at some different attributes required in this sport:

-Large centre of gravity

-Large force exertion on track [~2.5 body weight]

-Reaction time

-Height [fewer strides]

 

Currently, there are certain limits to what humans can do [i.e.-it takes about 1/3 of a second to lift and put your leg down while sprinting]. The 400 m double-amputee Oscar Pistorius improves on this limit by ~20% because his carbon fibre legs are half the mass.

Whether humans can go below 9 s may be beyond exploiting physics [http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120712-will-we-ever-run-100m-in-9-secs/1].

 

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/05/sports/olympics/the-100-meter-d…