Usain Bolt - Unbeaten in 2011

Announcers now call him, “the great man", and rightly so, as no known human being has ever run faster. But this season, Usain Bolt may have earned that titled even more so than in past world record-setting years. This season, Bolt’s greatest challenger was not Tyson Gay, or countryman Asafa Powell, but his own limitations as a man. Bolt’s greatness in 2011 was not embodied in an unimaginable time or a thrilling victory, but through overcoming injury and human error to still retain his title as the world’s fastest man.

No less decorated than in years past – posting the fastest 100m time of 2011 (9.76) winning the world championship in the 200m, and bringing yet another gold medal and world record home to Jamaica in the 4x100m relay – Usain Bolt has once again produced a thrilling campaign of races. However, what may be all the more impressive, despite not being in his best form, Bolt completed the 2011 campaign with a nearly perfect record of nine first place finishes – the only blemish being the false-start in Daegu.

6-May-11 Rome 100m First Place 9.91
31-May-11 Ostrava 100m First Place 9.91
9-Jun-11 Oslo 200m First Place 19.86
8-Jul-11 Paris 200m First Place 20.03
22-Jul-11 Monaco 100m First Place 9.88
29-Jul-11 Stockholm 200m First Place 20.03
28-Aug-11 Daegu 100m False-start
3-Sep-11 Daegu 200m First Place 19.4
4-Sep-11 Daegu 4x100m First Place 37.04 World Record
13-Sep-11 Zagreb 100m First Place 9.85
16-Sep-11 Brussels 100m First Place 9.76 Fastest Time of 2011