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IAAF-ratified world record progression for the men's 100 m. In 1977 the IAAF began requiring fully automatic timing, accounting for both the increase in measured times and the decrease in measurement uncertainty.
The first record in the 100 metres for men (athletics) was recognised by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as World Athletics, in 1912.
As of 21 June 2011, the IAAF had ratified 67 records in the event, not including rescinded records.
"Wind" in these tables refers to wind assistance, the velocity of the windparallel to the runner - positive values are from the starting line towards the finish line, negative are from the finish line towards the starting line, 0 is no wind in either direction, and all values are measured in metres per second. Any wind perpendicular to the runners (from left to right, right to left, or up to down or down to up, although the conditions of the track generally preclude those wind directions) is ignored and not listed.
"Auto" refers to automatic timing, and for the purposes of these lists, indicates auto times which were either also taken for hand-timed records, or were rounded to the tenth or hundredth of a second (depending on the rounding rules then in effect) for the official record time.
The first manual time of 9.9 seconds was recorded for Bob Hayes in the final of the 100 metres at the 1964 Olympics. Hayes' official time of 10.0 seconds was determined by rounding down the electronic time of 10.06 to the nearest tenth of a second, giving the appearance of a manual time. This method was unique to the Olympics of 1964 and 1968, and the officials at the track recorded Hayes' time as 9.9 seconds.
Records since 1977
Since 1975, the IAAF has accepted separate automatically electronically timed records for events up to 400 metres. Starting on January 1, 1977, the IAAF has required fully automatic timing to the hundredth of a second for these events.
Jim Hines' October 1968 Olympic gold medal run was the fastest recorded fully electronic 100 metre race up to that date, at 9.95 seconds. Track and Field News has compiled an unofficial list of automatically timed records starting with the 1964 Olympics and Bob Hayes' gold medal performance there. Those marks are included in the progression.
The IAAF considers marks set at high altitude as acceptable for record consideration. However, high altitude can significantly assist sprint performances. One estimate suggests times in the 200 m sprint can be assisted by between 0.09s and 0.14s with the maximum allowable tailing wind of 2.0 m/s, and gain 0.3s at altitudes over 2000m. For this reason, unofficial low-altitude record lists have been compiled.
After the IAAF started to recognise only electronic times in 1977, the then-current record and subsequent record were both set at altitude. It was not until 1987 that the world record was equalled or surpassed by a low-altitude performance. The following progression of low-altitude records therefore starts with Hines's low-altitude "record" when the IAAF started to recognise only electronic timing in 1977, and continues to Lewis's low-altitude performance that equalled the high-altitude world record in 1987. (Ben Johnson's 9.95 run in 1986 and 9.83 run in 1987 are omitted.)
per IAAF profile; 1.0 m/s per IAAF statistic handbook
Lennart Strandberg ran 10.3 to tie the then-extant world record on September 26, 1936, and this was ratified as a world record. On February 28, 1938, the IAAF ratified Jesse Owens' 10.2 from June 20, 1936, meaning Strandberg's mark, achieved after Owens', was rescinded as a record.
^ Ben Johnson's time of 9.79 on September 24, 1988 was disallowed and never ratified as a record as he tested positive for stanozolol after the race. Johnson subsequently admitted to steroid use between 1981 and 1988, and his world record of 9.83 set on August 30, 1987 was rescinded by the IAAF Council in September 1989.(Track and Field News, November 1989, vol. 42, #11, p. 37)
Carl Lewis's times of 9.93 were deemed by the IAAF to have equalled the world record after Ben Johnson's 9.83 time was rescinded, but were never ratified as world records, and his time of 9.92 to win the gold medal at the Seoul Olympics after Johnson was disqualified was recognized as the world record from January 1, 1990.
Tim Montgomery's time of 9.78 on September 14, 2002 was rescinded after a 2005 ruling on his involvement with BALCO scandal ordered his results from 2001-2005 struck from the records and ordered him to forfeit medals and prizes from that time. By that time, however, it had been surpassed by Asafa Powell.
Justin Gatlin was briefly credited with a new world record time of 9.76, but five days later the IAAF announced that the official timers, Tissot Timing, had discovered Gatlin's time of 9.766 had erroneously been rounded down to the nearest hundredth instead of rounded up. This time instead made Gatlin co-world record holder with Asafa Powell, but this was rescinded in 2007 after Gatlin failed a doping test.
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