"point spread" for average person vs Bolt in 200m

The topic is about "racing". I don't think a walk is part of the topic. Gallowalking a 200? I think if you talk about the "average person," not the average runner, many would not be able to run that far without stopping to rest.

I play in a club ultimate frisbee league -- lots of reasonably fit 25-35 year old males. Very few of them can keep up with me in a sprint (talking like a 30-50m distance). Funny as I was one of the slowest sprinters on my college team a few years ago. I know for a fact I can run 27.x right now but I'm not sure I could break 27 from a standing start.

If you lined up American males 20-35, there'd be a fair number who scare 30s or below, but the range of times would be huge with lots of guys who look fit at first glance running in the 35s range, and lots of guys running slower than that. 200m is a long way to run if you don't run regularly.

The 200m is about sprinting - top speed. It is an anaerobic activity. If you are in very good shape, you can sprint the entire 200m at your top speed. Otherwise, you would have to stride for the first 50 meters or so and then kick into your sprint. This means that the average speed would depend on how fast an average person can sprint. I run with several people in my running club that can run close to a 5 minute mile. I, myself, at age 45, cannot run under 6 minutes for a mile. However, I feel that I have good sprinting speed and I beat all of these runners in the 200m by almost a full second when we do track work. I clock a 28 second 200 meter. I think it is safe to say that the 200m speed of the average runner is less than 28 seconds. I would dare to say it is less than 30 seconds.

road rabbit wrote:

Taco Time Tuesday wrote:

An average person cannot run a 200 in 27 seconds.

It depends on what you mean by "average person".

If you include females, can the average person run a 27 second 200? No.

If you include people younger than 15 or older than 40, can the average person run a 27 second 200? No.

If you include fat guys and amputees, can the average person run a 27 second 200? No.

But if you restrict your definition of "average person" to fit 20-29 year old male non-runners, then I will say that yes, the average person can run a 27 for the 200.

I definitely disagree. The average is probably more like 30-32 for an "average" non-running male in their 20's. For an "average" former (varsity level) HS athlete in their 20's, maybe you're right about a 27 (though that is probably a little optimistic). For an "average" former collegiate athlete in their 20's, 27 is almost certainly underestimating it.

But for the AVERAGE male in their 20's? It's going to be 30+. Their average 100m would probably be around 15 or maybe even 16 seconds, and as the average person is not in particularly great shape they won't be able to run the second 100m as fast as the first.

Going back to the OP, for a 40 year old that probably isn't in great shape, I'd give him at least 15 seconds. Probably closer to 17 or even 18 would seem about right.

I'm 11 and I can run a 35 second 200 meter boys on my track team can run about 33 seconds a 40 year old man (unless he is extremely fit) is not running a 27 second 200 meter dash

Some of you are really overestimating the fitness of non-runners. In winters I run indoors on my local gym's track at high 6:30 to 7:00 pace. Once in a while an idiot will try to keep up with me and most of them can't even last 200 meters at that pace. These tend to be 20-29 year old males who are reasonably fit.

Average for males is about 35 sec but average for girls is probably about 40-45 sec

Average is slower and more out of shape than you can ever imagine trust me