Usain Bolt wishes he could have raced Kylian Mbappe in the 100 metres in his prime.
But a simulator has already shown just how the pair’s speeds would compare – and the results are fascinating.
It’s no secret that iconic sprinter Bolt is a huge fan of football. He loves Manchester United and even had a trial with Central Coast Mariners following his athletics retirement.
The eight-time Olympic gold champion has since given up his pursuit of a football career.
But whilst he would’ve easily been the fastest pro-footballer had he made it, he believes Mbappe could have come close to his rapid speed.
When asked which player would be able to match him when speaking at the Laureus Awards in Madrid, the 11-time world champion said with a smile: “I would love to compete with [Kylian] Mbappe in my prime to see how close he would be.
“I feel like one day he needs to just run 100 metres and just let me see the time.”
It turns out Bolt can already see how Mbappe would get on, though.
Well – a simulator version of it, anyway.
A video on YouTube made by Speed Showdown shows a 3D simulation of Mbappe, one of the fastest footballers in the world, racing against Bolt, the fastest human in history, in a 100 metre Race.
The minute-long video shows Mbappe in his France national kit, whilst Bolt is in his Jamaica strip.
Bolt comfortably beats Mbappe with a time of 9.58 seconds compared to the PSG star’s 10.90.
The Jamaican set the record for the 100-meter sprint with a time of 9.58 seconds at the Worlds in Berlin – a very high bar for Mbappe to meet.
But to be fair to the World Cup winner, if he had raced in the 100m final at the Tokyo Olympics, his simulation time would have seen him finish, just over a second behind bronze medalist Andre De Grasse.
A study in 2022 found Mbappe was the fastest football player in the world, clocking a top speed of 10.6 metres per second, which equates to roughly around 22.4mph pace.
But whether he could’ve actually put the fear in Bolt like he does to defenders every single week, we’ll never know!