Would any PL players be able to run 100m in under 10 secs?

Muahahaha · 13-08-2014 10:24PM #1

I'm hoping some of the older posters here might be able to jog my memory on this. I think it was back in the late 1980s ITV had the rights to the FA Cup or Littlewoods Cup. As part of their coverage they ran a competition where the fastest players on each team would compete in a 100m sprint before the game kicked off. The sprint race was on grass and they ran in their football boots. I can't for the life of me remember who won the thing but as far as I remember he covered 100m in just over 11 seconds which is pretty fast given it's on grass and he was wearing football boots.

To put it in perspective at the time the world record for 100m was held by Carl Lewis with a time of 9.93 seconds. I found it fascinating that a footballer, running on grass and in football boots was only just over a second slower than the fastest man in the world at the time. Got me wondering if the footballer had of trained as a sprinter and developed his body to sprint he might have been up there with the best, I certainly can't remember him being any great shakes as a footballer.

Anyway these days man can run even faster than ever, Usain Bolt has the world record down to 9.58 seconds and some believe he might yet be the first person ever to do it in under 9 seconds. So too has football gotten much faster since the 1980s so my question is this - if given the right footwear and an Olympic standard track then which players in the Premier Leagie do you think could cover 100m in under ten seconds ?

I'll kick it off by saying Raheem Sterling. Perhaps he may not be under the 10 seconds right now, I reckon he could do a 10.5 at the moment. But when he hits his physical peak (for sprinting) at around 24 or 25 years of age I'd say he'd be well able to cover 100m in under 10 seconds.

Harry Palmr · 13-08-2014 10:29PM

Tiago Ilori (ex Sporting now Liverpool) beat Ronaldos sprint time at when at Sporting Lisbon, I've only seen a few glimpses in games on loan but he certainly looks damned quick

NIMAN · 13-08-2014 10:31PM

To the original question, I'd say NO.

luckyboy · 13-08-2014 10:33PM

I think the OP may be referring to ex-Coventry City player John Williams aka "The Flying Postman" ...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams_(footballer_born_1968)

Professional Griefer · 13-08-2014 10:37PM

What about Sterling? Hes pretty quick, gotta be one of the fastest in the league.

nvm, you said him.

Bobby Baccala · 13-08-2014 10:37PM

Mertesacker

franglan · 13-08-2014 10:40PM

I don't think so, when you get to that type of time the difference between running a 10.50s and 10.00s 100 metres is huge. Even with Sterling's pace I not convinced he could run anywhere near a 10 second 100m metres (even if he was born in Jamaica!)

JPA · 13-08-2014 10:40PM

To go under 10 seconds a player would need to train professionally as a sprinter.

Assuming they did I would have said Agbonlahor once upon a time but he's gone too bulky.

Talib Fiasco · 13-08-2014 10:42PM

Ryo Miyaichi is well worth a mention...probably will get faster too as he gets a little older

Muahahaha · 13-08-2014 10:42PM

luckyboy wrote: »

I think the OP may be referring to ex-Coventry City player John Williams aka "The Flying Postman" ...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams_(footballer_born_1968)

Yeah that's the lad. And it was 11.49 seconds so at around that time he was 1.57 seconds slower than Carl Lewis. However he was running on grass and in football boots. Impossible to say how much time that disadvantage would have cost him, likely hundredths of a second but given the right gear I'd hazard a guess he could have done it in 10.7 to 10.9 seconds. Still a full second off Carl Lewis but pretty impressive for someone whose body isn't trained to be a sprinter. And he could deliver post too !

Muahahaha · 13-08-2014 10:44PM

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Tiago Ilori (ex Sporting now Liverpool) beat Ronaldos sprint time at when at Sporting Lisbon, I've only seen a few glimpses in games on loan but he certainly looks damned quick

Any ideas what times Ronaldo & Illoro were running ? Also were they in boots or on a proper track with spiked shoes ?

Hank Scorpio · 13-08-2014 10:45PM

Walcott might have a shout

Harry Palmr · 13-08-2014 10:51PM

Muahahaha wrote: »

Any ideas what times Ronaldo & Illoro were running ? Also were they in boots or on a proper track with spiked shoes ?

Sadly no, I have no idea about the conditions of the sprint - I imagine it wa rather less than 100m as well - lets face it in football you really only need 5-10 meters to lose your man, short repeated sprints.

greendom · 13-08-2014 10:51PM

nuxxx wrote: »

Walcott might have a shout

Bellerin beat his record for the 40 metres at Arsenal this week.

Will I Amnt · 13-08-2014 10:53PM

Not a hope IMO. A half decent sprinter will be quicker than the fastest footballers.

EuropeanSon · 13-08-2014 10:55PM

Not much chance, not without at least a few years of sprint-focused training. Fewer than 100 people have EVER ran 100m in less than 10s.

And in response to another thing mentioned in the OP - nobody with a clue thinks Bolt could run anywhere near 9 flat, it's such a colossal difference that I would confidently say that he himself never once gave it the slightest thought as being possible.

retalivity · 13-08-2014 11:00PM

I am sure I rem seeing something when M Owen burst on the scene that he was clocked at 10.4 over 100m.
This was in the days of club call and teletext so could be total sh1te

enfant terrible · 13-08-2014 11:04PM

The footballers technique would be rubbish compared to a sprinter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZqEj-Qyg6U

Talib Fiasco · 13-08-2014 11:07PM

enfant terrible wrote: »

The footballers technique would be rubbish compared to a sprinter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZqEj-Qyg6U

Ronaldo's running technique is quite unique in itself though...that whole series is a great watch.

5starpool · 13-08-2014 11:10PM

No chance. A footballer might cover 100m in less tan 10 secs in a flying start, but not from a sprinters block, even in proper sprinting gear.

AllGunsBlazing · 13-08-2014 11:20PM

nuxxx wrote: »

Walcott might have a shout

Probably the most capable. Just so long as his hamstrings didn't explode before the finish line.

wally79 · 13-08-2014 11:25PM

This lad might do it

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/496300/Manchester-United-Player-Breaks-100m-Record-Olympic-Darren-Campbell

wally79 · 13-08-2014 11:26PM

This lad might do it

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/496300/Manchester-United-Player-Breaks-100m-Record-Olympic-Darren-Campbell

Muahahaha · 13-08-2014 11:30PM

enfant terrible wrote: »

The footballers technique would be rubbish compared to a sprinter

Great vid, really explains the differences in technique between footballers and sprinters well. You could see Ronaldo's arms flailing all over the place compared to the Spanish 100m champion. Still though Ronaldo was only .3 of a second behind him. I'd say if Ronaldo had a sprinters training and technique down he could possibly beat the Spanish 100m record. Not gonna happen of course, talking years of training here.

GreeBo · 13-08-2014 11:35PM

11s isn't that impressive, kids can do it in 12s.
Add mentioned above, it only gets interesting under 10s, Jonah lomu could do under 11 and he was over 18 stone.

enfant terrible · 13-08-2014 11:35PM

Muahahaha wrote: »

enfant terrible wrote: »

The footballers technique would be rubbish compared to a sprinter

Great vid, really explains the differences in technique between footballers and sprinters well. You could see Ronaldo's arms flailing all over the place compared to the Spanish 100m champion. Still though Ronaldo was only .3 of a second behind him. I'd say if Ronaldo had a sprinters training and technique down he could possibly beat the Spanish 100m record. Not gonna happen of course, talking years of training here.

From the comments to that video someone said

" 0,3 s difference in 25m is alot. 25m x 4 = 100m
0,3 x 4 = 1,2s he runs a 10.40? so that means Ronaldo only runs a 11.60"

Y2KBOS86 · 13-08-2014 11:35PM

Alot of footballers have the potential to run 100m in 10 flat with a few years training, but no one playing week to week can get near that time.

Adam Gemili has been training a few years now and has only this year got near 10 flat, he is very talented.

Darren Campbell reckons any young male that can do 100m in around 11 secs without sprint training has the potential to run near 10 secs.

The likes of Walcott, Sterling mentioned already are not those young males he is talking about either.

Adebayor not famed for his raw pace beat Walcott by a decent margin when they did a 100m sprint at Arsenal doing it in 11.40.

Muahahaha · 13-08-2014 11:36PM

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Not much chance, not without at least a few years of sprint-focused training. Fewer than 100 people have EVER ran 100m in less than 10s.

And in response to another thing mentioned in the OP - nobody with a clue thinks Bolt could run anywhere near 9 flat, it's such a colossal difference that I would confidently say that he himself never once gave it the slightest thought as being possible.

Nah I don't believe Bolt or anyone for that matter can crack the 9 second barrier for 100m. If it ever happened in my lifetime I'd be completely astonished.

Nonetheless I still think Bolt has more in the tank. At the Beijing Olympics he set a world record time of 9.63 but as he was about to cross the line he was looking around and practically celebrating he was that far ahead of the chasing pack. I reckon if he had of pushed that one last stride he might have got a 9.45-9.5 second record. Then I think he did something similar at the London Olympics, pulled up short when he had the race run. The apparent story at the time was he was competing in some invitational event a couple of weeks later and there was some mammouth cash bonus if he could set a world record. Not sure if it was true or not because he never broke the record at it.

5starpool · 13-08-2014 11:39PM

enfant terrible wrote: »

From the comments to that video someone said

" 0,3 s difference in 25m is alot. 25m x 4 = 100m
0,3 x 4 = 1,2s he runs a 10.40? so that means Ronaldo only runs a 11.60"

The first 1/4 of a race is the slowest as they are starting from still, so it's not right to just multiply the time by 4 to get the time for 100m.

Kirby · 13-08-2014 11:40PM

Running at pace isn't nearly as important as running at pace while controlling the ball.

There have been some seriously quick footballers in a dead sprint throughout the years but not many were nearly as fast while dribbling and that's the truly devastating skill.

I remember a while back, 4 or 5 years maybe......that they clocked Agbonlahor as the fastest player in the league but there were a bunch of players with a faster dribbling speed than him as once he had to control the ball, he slowed down a good bit. Aaron Lennon and Arjen Robben for example, are both lightning even with the ball at their feet.

Even so, the trained sprinter will always come out on top. Footballers have hundreds of things they need to train on, so I doubt a professional will ever run it in under 10 seconds.

enfant terrible · 13-08-2014 11:45PM

5starpool wrote: »

The first 1/4 of a race is the slowest as they are starting from still, so it's not right to just multiply the time by 4 to get the time for 100m.

I don't know much about sprinting, would you think Ronaldo would keep pace with the professional sprinter for the rest of the 100m with that technique?

Would any PL players be able to run 100m in under 10 secs?

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