Usain Bolt’s 100-meter dash record of 9.58 was shattered on Saturday by a similarly-named Chinese humanoid robot.
The record was set in 2009 and remains an inspiring feat of human ability, but it was broken this weekend by a humanoid bot named Lightning Bolt, which was able to smash the record by completing the 100-meter dash in 9.39 seconds before it ran into a wall and was carried off the track on a stretcher.
Watch:
A humanoid robot developed by China’s Beijing Innovation Center of Humanoid Robotics ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds, beating the human world record held by Jamaican sprinting great Usain Bolt https://t.co/z0D4H4Vco6 pic.twitter.com/EYuum0iwA8
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 22, 2026
During a trial of the World Humanoid Robot Games, a robot from Chinese smartphone company Honor actually completed the 100-meter dash in 9.32 seconds, peaking at a shocking 14.5 meters per second.
“The World Humanoid Robot Games, in its second year, features more than 2,000 robots in 51 events and 1,000 competitions like running, table tennis and soccer. The five-day event highlights China’s rapid progress in robotics amid a heated tech race with the U.S.,” Fox News reported. “The games, which are taking place in the National Speed Skating Oval built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, opened the same week Beijing was holding the 2026 World Robot Conference, where companies showcased around 3,000 products, including humanoid robots.”
X users had a lot to say about the race and its results:
But what is the bloody point? There’s no comparison- no training needed, no prep need, just has to be coded right.
— maiya (@maiya875) August 23, 2026
Surely a machine should be compared to other machines and not humans?
By machine standards this is snail pace
…. Even a barely working car could beat this. Not even mentioning planes, drones, rockets.
Awwww, bless. It did try though.
— moneyFever (@cashpyraxia_) August 23, 2026
Why did that have to make the machine look like a human? A Hyundai could do this too.
— LuttrumPuttrum (@LuttrumPuttrum) August 23, 2026
There are hundreds of machines that are faster than men, why is this a phenomenon?
— Alive. (@UncleOceans) August 23, 2026
Millions of self propelled machines & motor vehicles have already broken and are breaking that Usain Bolt record everyday
What’s that special in making that vehicle resembling a human shape ?
— DBR (@DBR1114729) August 23, 2026
Why didn’t they add a brake? Now the robot is dead after breaking this world record.
— NNAA (@Ifeadigonma) August 23, 2026
It’s strange that people are literally looking to build terminators
— Carlos Danger (@lamont1940) August 23, 2026
