World record: What’s the fastest women’s 100m dash time ever?

The women’s 100m dash has been in focus for a number of reasons but what is the world record time that athletes will be chasing at the 2021 Olympics?

Due to the Sha’Carri Richardson controversy, the women’s 100m dash has been one of the most publicized events heading into the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. Of course, the American sprinter won’t be allowed to compete after a positive test for marijuana but the rest of the athletes will be searching for a gold medal.

One of the always-fascinating things about track and field events at the Olympics, though, is that the athletes are not just chasing a place on the podium but also a world record. It’s one thing to have a medal around your neck; it’s another to have your name in the history books.

So it’s worth looking at the world record time that the athletes will be chasing at the 2021 Olympics in the women’s 100m dash.

The 2021 Olympics field will be trying to best the time of Florence Griffith-Joyner, who set the women’s 100m dash world record in 1988

American Florence Griffith-Joyner set an unreal record in the women’s 100m dash at the U.S. Olympic trials in 1988, running a time of 10.49 seconds on July 16.

However, for a time to qualify as a world record by the official rules, there must be a tailwind of under +2.0 m/s of aid. While Flo-Jo’s time registered with 0.0 m/s, there is a footnote in the record books that it may have been due to a faulty anemometer and there was substantial aid.

Even if that’s the case, Griffith-Joyner would still hold the record as she ran an uncontested 10.61-second time the next day at the U.S. Olympic trials. Furthermore, she set an Olympic record at Seoul later in 1988 with a time of 10.62 seconds, which still stands as well.

No women’s sprinter has come within 0.10 seconds of Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49-second mark, however. And given that it’s stood for over 30 years, it’s hard to imagine that time falling as the world record anytime soon.