Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Speed Showdown
A 3D simulation has been created to show how a 100m race could potentially play out between Usain Bolt and Kylian Mbappe based on their fastest recorded speed.
Earlier this week, we published a piece on what a 100m race would look like if Usain Bolt clocked his world record speed [9.58s] alongside Robert Smith; a character deemed ‘the average person’.
Bolt, who recorded a top speed of 27.8mph [44.72 km/h] during that mind-blowing time at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, predictably ripped Smith to shreds on the track.
But how does that fastest ever run look when pitted against one of the world’s quickest footballers?
Image credit: YouTube/Speed Showdown
PSG and France forward Kylian Mbappe has certainly clocked some impressive speeds on the football pitch.
Back in February 2021, for example, he ran the length of the pitch in 11 seconds during a Ligue 1 clash against Marseille, recording a top speed of 22.4mph.
So how would he fare against Bolt? The 24-year-old’s 100m time has never been recorded on a track but YouTube channel Speed
Showdown has calculated a time based on his fastest ever recorded speed of 23.6mph [38km/h].
The experiment, as seen below, shows a variety of camera angles of the virtual race, including a POV from Mbappe, who is overtaken from the get-go.
“This video is cool and precise,” said one YouTube user. “It’s a fact that Mbappe can’t come close to Usain.”
It may come as a surprise to many but Mbappe did not feature in last season’s top 10 quickest players in the Champions League group stage.
Instead, the joint-fastest speed was recorded by then-Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk, who now plays for Chelsea, and Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele.
They both reached 36.6km/h at some point during the group stage, according to stats on the Champions League website.
AC Milan forward Rafael Leao was third with a top speed of 36.5km/h, closely followed by Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde (36.3km/h).
Arsenal’s Nuno Tavares, who was on loan at Marseille, and Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies were next on the list with a top speed of 36.2km/h.
Mbappe, meanwhile, was 11th on the list with a top speed of 35.6km/h.