Usain Bolt's record in the 100 meters has been surpassed by two robots in China.
The Chinese humanoid Tiangong Ultra completed the distance in 9.39 seconds this Saturday in Beijing, 19 hundredths of a second below the historic 9.58 seconds set by the Jamaican sprinter in 2009.
The milestone was recorded in an official qualifier for the second Humanoid Robot World Games and was broadcast by Chinese state television.
Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, crossed the finish line with about a body length ahead of its competitors.
Tiangong Ultra was not the only one capable of finishing under Bolt's 9.58 seconds.
The second place was taken by Shandian —whose name means "lightning" in Mandarin and is also known as Lightning—, manufactured by the tech company Honor, with a time of 9.47 seconds.
The robot from Unitree came in third with a time of 12.41 seconds.
However, the conclusion of the test made it clear that achieving extraordinary speeds does not necessarily mean mastering all movements.
A few meters from crossing the finish line, Tiangong Ultra veered to the side and crashed into the padded barriers set up to stop the robots.
Lightning also lost control and ended up crashing, while the third robot tried to slow down by sliding forward before eventually landing on the large barriers at the end of the track.
Honor also reported that Shandian had achieved 9.32 seconds during a preparatory test prior to the official event, with a maximum speed of 14.5 meters per second, according to DW.
That unofficial brand would be even faster than the 9.39 seconds achieved by Tiangong Ultra during the qualifying round.
An extraordinary improvement in just one year
Beyond the comparison with Bolt, the evolution of Tiangong Ultra demonstrates the speed at which these robots are progressing.
In the first edition of the games, the same robot won the 100 meters with a time of 21.50 seconds. A year later, it has improved its record by more than 12 seconds, stopping the clock at 9.39.
The comparison with the evolution of human athletics is particularly striking.
The American Donald Lippincott set the first world record in the 100 meters recognized by the international federation in 1912, with a time of 10.6 seconds.
Almost a century later, Bolt brought the record down to the current 9.58 seconds at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009.
The robots, on the other hand, have made a leap of over 12 seconds in this test in just one year, although the tumultuous outcome of the race showed that speed and control do not necessarily progress at the same pace.
The tournament and its scale
The second Humanoid Robot World Games are being held at the Beijing National Speed Skating Oval, known as the Ice Ribbon, and will continue until this Wednesday.
The competition brings together 666 teams and 2,056 robots, with participants from 16 countries.
The disciplines go far beyond athletics: they include soccer, martial arts, table tennis, wrestling, weightlifting, and even household tasks such as folding laundry, as reported by the BBC from Beijing.
An acceleration without brakes
The record set this Saturday is not an isolated event.
In April, robots had already defeated humans in the Beijing half marathon, where Lightning completed the 21 kilometers in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds.
In 2025, the robots needed over two hours and forty minutes to cover the same distance.
For the August Games, researchers extended Lightning's legs by ten centimeters—from 95 cm to 1.05 meters—according to China Central Television (CCTV).
This advancement is part of Beijing's strategic commitment to humanoid robotics.
The rise of the sector is also reflected in the markets.
Unitree Robotics, one of the participating companies in the games, debuted on the stock market on August 19 on the STAR Market in Shanghai with a rise of 460% on its first day, becoming the first listed humanoid robotics company in mainland China, having raised approximately 904 million dollars in its initial public offering.
The Beijing race thus presented an image that encapsulates the current state of humanoid robotics: machines capable of surpassing physical records that once seemed reserved for the world’s top athletes, yet can still end up crashing into a padded barrier mere seconds after making history.
Filed under: