"Top Gun: Maverick" hits theaters this weekend. And as usual, there is a Tom Cruise running scene. That presents an important question, though: Is he actually good at running?
He is a Hollywood A-lister with a ton of money and he probably hits the gym every single day. I also suspect that he employs a nutritionist and a personal trainer that gives him a ton of HIIT workouts. I would not be a bit surprised if he is also on HGH, TRT, or some sort of steroid to maintain his muscle mass and youthful looks. 11.5 may be a stretch but, if there is no doping controls...
Sure. Take a 15 second 100m runner filmed at high speed (frames per second) and convert the video to 12 seconds at a lower speed rate.
According to IMDB the film was shot using X-OCN ST (6K, up to 90 fps) format and converted to 4k Digital format. This means there is no loss or blurring when converting to what was shot and what is seen in a film.
The above type of tweaking is exactly what Slow Tom needs to do to become Tom Cruise.
Cruise is 59 and will be 60 in July. Jackie Joyner Kersey probably has no idea of what masters are running in the 100m. I vaguely recall watching Charles Allie set the WR in the M55-59 age group in Hawaii back in 2005(?) at 11.5x. Cruise is 59 and will be 60 in July. No way Tom Cruise could come remotely close to 11.5.
Cruise is a short guy so he does look fast in the movies whether it's speeded up or not. That said, he does look like he can actually run. He might be about to run sub-16 seconds with some training. That's not good enough to medal in the M60 at most state finals in the senior games, though.
The vast majority of actors grow up without athletics. Generally speaking, when you see a non-runner run on TV or movies, you can tell they are out of their element. Like when you see someone jogging in place at a signal light. You know immediately that that person did not grow up running. Personally, I chuckle when I see someone jogging in place at the lights because I know that they're just wasting their energy for no reason.
My point is that Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, like almost all other actors, didn't grow up participating in sports. While Mapother played on the football team his senior year, he mostly liked to do drama and drink beer. I think Tom could have been a fine athlete growing up, but he didn't. And without that base and training, no way he could run under 13 seconds in the 100 meters at 59 year old.
If we take him as a 60-year-old, which he will be in five weeks time, an 11.5 puts him at faster than anyone in the age group ran in the world in 2021.
In fact only one person broke 12.0. The second fastest time was 12:33.
I'd say he's very fit for his age, and has athletic talent. Maybe he breaks 15.0.
Given his build, he might be relatively better at 60m.
Surprised someone like Kersee who should be more knowledgeable would say something like this. Cruise or most anyone can’t run 11.5 at nearly 60 no matter how much they are coached, and certainly not get him there with ease. It’s literally world record territory for the age group. Maybe 12.5 at best but even that won’t be easy.
Like when you see someone jogging in place at a signal light. You know immediately that that person did not grow up running. Personally, I chuckle when I see someone jogging in place at the lights because I know that they're just wasting their energy for no reason.
They probably didn’t grow up running, sure, but they are not “wasting their energy” unless you think their entire run intended to burn energy and keep HR high is a waste. Exercise means burning energy for no reason other than for the health benefit of burning energy.
But Joyner-Kersee thinks Cruise could be a good 100-meter runner, and she says he looks like he might be in the 12-second range right now. "That's really fast for people who don't train to race," she says.
And what would happen if Cruise did train? Well, first of all, Cruise should know that he has an open invitation to come work with Joyner-Kersee and her husband, former U.S. track coach Bob Kersee. "I believe we could work with him, see what he's got," Joyner-Kersee says. "We could probably get him to 11.5 with ease."
For the record, 11.5 is very fast... and definitely fast enough to catch up to Robert Duvall on pit row if they ever have a "Days of Thunder" rematch.
Thoughts? I think this would be quite fast for a mostly untrained if in great shape 59 year old.
If Tom Cruise can play the 6-5 260 pounds of muscle Jack Reacher what's an 11.5 100m?
lol. the age group record for 60 year olds is 11.70
Seriously, how many 60 year old men are actually training for and enter a 100m competition? 99.9% of most fit 60yr old men are not sprinting in a track meet. They are lifting weights, playing basketball, jogging or doing boxing workouts or crossfit to stay fit, not entering a track meet.