Usain Bolt Says He Doesn’t Think Current Generation Can Break His World Records

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – JUNE 15: Usain Bolt greets the crowd during the BAUHAUS-galan, part of the 2025 Diamond League at Olympic Stadium on June 15, 2025 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

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So much for a new generation of track and field stars.

On Thursday, just a day out from the start of the 2025 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships at National Stadium in Tokyo, the world 100-meter and 200-meter record holder Usain Bolt said during an event for Puma that he doesn’t believe the world’s current crop of sprinters has what it takes to chase after his global marks.

Naturally, the world’s undisputed fastest man in history can talk the talk.

Bolt’s world-record times of 9.58 over 100 meters and 19.19 seconds over 200 meters have stood firm over the last 16 years. Only his fellow Jamaican peer, Asafa Powell, has really come close since then, posting times of 9.69 and 19.26 in 2012 and 2011, ranking No. 3 and No. 2 in history. U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay ran an American record of 9.69 a month after Bolt broke the world record in 2009.

A post-career Bolt was pretty clear on Thursday.

“I think the talent is there,” he said. “There will be talented athletes coming up, and they will do well. But at the present moment, I don’t see any athlete able to break the record, so not worried.”

Who Could Potentially Chase After Usain Bolt’s Records At The 2025 World Championships

So are any current athletes ready to make Bolt eat his words at worlds?

Don’t hold your breath just yet. As in most years, the men’s 100- and 200-meter finals could come down to a stiff battle between U.S. and Jamaican athletes, from American stars like Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek, to Jamaicans Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville. None, however, are approaching Bolt’s time-tested records.

The reigning Olympic and world champion Lyles hasn’t been perfect in 2025, either. In fact, he’s been beaten by both Thompson and Oblique Seville in August–though in his setback to the former in Poland, Lyles ran a season-best time of 9.90 seconds over 100 meters.

What the 28-year-old Lyles does have going for him is a win at the U.S. Championships over 200 meters. There, he beat Bednarek in a tense race that saw a physical confrontation at the finish line–the Wisconsin native Bednarek pushed Lyles with some umph following the performance. What’s more, Lyles is third-best all-time over 200 meters, with his career-best time of 19.31 from the 2022 World Championships standing at No. 3 on the charts, only behind Blake and Bolt. That performance bested Michael Johnson’s American record from 1996.

If anyone is going to break Bolt’s records this year, it may be Lyles.

But then again, let’s not forget about Bednarek. There’s no doubt the 26-year-old has had the best season of his career, clocking a career-best 9.79 seconds in his 100-meter win at the U.S. Championships. But right now, there’s a sense that until he beats Lyles or Thompson or Seville in a global setting, he hasn’t made that next leap as a global superstar.

If anyone is going to beat Lyles at his own game, it may be the 24-year-old Thompson. In fact, the Jamaican may be the man to beat over 100 meters.

He ran a career-best time of 9.75 seconds in June at the Jamaican Championships, giving a performance that lands at No. 5 on the all-time charts. Very few athletes match Thompson’s physicality, either. The Jamaican stands a firm 6-feet-1-inches and mirrors’ the very best of Jamaican sprinters over the years.

The same can’t be said about Seville, who may clock in at about 5-feet-7-inches. But don’t mistake Seville’s lack of physical makeup for talent. The 24-year-old has won some truly big races in 2025, including a battle over Lyles in the Diamond League final in Switzerland and another against Lyles in London–though he lost to Thompson at the Jamaican championships by eighth-hundredths of a second.

Just How Fast Will The Best Men In The World Record.

All of this brings us back to Bolt, whose prognostication has merit.

It’s becoming clearer by the year that what the Jamaican legend accomplished 16 years ago at the World Championships in Berlin was beyond approach and will require a herculean effort.

That being said, it doesn’t mean his marks are physically impossible to replicate. With the advancement of shoe technology and better track surfaces overall, it’s only a matter of time before history is made.

The only question is whether the current crop has what it takes.

Bolt, for what it’s worth, says he’s pretty sure they don’t. Time will tell over nine days in Tokyo.

“Everything evolves in life,” he said during the event. “People trying to get better, trying to get faster. It’s not going to be a surprise if it actually happens.”