Usain Bolt shared the longest distance he’s ever run when asked if he would ever do a marathon.
Usain Bolt was at the 2026 London Marathon on Sunday – but will he ever actually run one?
Bolt, who has won nine Olympic gold medals, is still the fastest man ever in the 100m and 200m races. He set the world records at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, with a time of 9.58 seconds for 100m and 19.19 seconds for 200m.
Those records have stood for nearly 20 years, with many trying but not able to beat his incredible speed.
Meanwhile, marathon records keep falling. On Sunday in London, Sabastian Sawe became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours, finishing in 1 hour 59 minutes and 30 seconds. He fueled this amazing run with bread and honey. There were also new records in the women’s race and in the wheelchair races.
Some former athletes, like ex-Arsenal and Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey, also finished the full 26.2 miles.
Though Bolt was near the course working as a DJ, he wasn’t one of the 59,000 runners.
Could we ever see the fastest man ever run a marathon?
Earlier this year, the 39-year-old Jamaican, who now works as Puma’s Director of Performance, was asked if he’s ever tried running a marathon.
“No, I was a sprinter,” he told Esquire. “We train to run super fast for a short time. Marathon runners train for a long distance. Both are running, but they’re very different. I don’t think I’ll ever run a marathon.”
When asked about the longest distance he’s run, he said, “I once jogged a 5k for charity, but normally in training we ran lots of short repeats. We never ran more than 400m at once.”
In a 2024 interview with Runner’s World, Bolt said, “Anything over 600 metres was too much.”
“My coach made me run a few 600m and quarter-mile runs, but I never went longer,” he explained.
Of course, Bolt has already done so much and doesn’t need to prove anything. Still, it would be amazing to see the fastest man ever running 26.2 miles.
But based on what Bolt has said, fans probably shouldn’t expect it anytime soon.