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Chinese humanoid robot clocks 100m faster than Usain Bolt's world record at Beijing games

BEIJING, Aug 26 (Source Reporters) — A Chinese-built humanoid robot has run the 100 metres faster than Usain Bolt's human world record of 9.58 seconds, organisers said, during sprint events at a robot games in Beijing at the weekend.

Yohan Blake
Photo: Arian Zwegers via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

By Source Reporters Newsdesk

Thu, 27 August 2026 · 1 min read

**BEIJING, Aug 26 (Source Reporters)** — A Chinese-built humanoid robot has run the 100 metres faster than Usain Bolt's human world record of 9.58 seconds, organisers said, during sprint events at a robot games in Beijing at the weekend.
The machine, reported by The Guardian and The Independent as being nicknamed "Lightning", completed the distance in a time quicker than the mark Bolt set at the 2009 Berlin World Championships, according to Reuters, which described the result as beating "Usain Bolt's 100m world record at Beijing games". Bloomberg and Al Jazeera also reported the milestone from the humanoid games.
The exact clocking recorded by the robot was not stated in initial wire reports and remains **Unverified** pending confirmation from event organisers or an independent timing body.
Robot athletics are governed separately from World Athletics competition, so the mark does not affect the human world record standings. Bolt's 9.58 remains the official men's 100m world record.
The Beijing event showcased sprint and track events for bipedal machines, following China's push into humanoid robotics. Video published by The Guardian showed robots smashing several track marks previously held by humans.
Organisers had not commented on whether the performance will be submitted for formal robotic-sport ratification.
**Sources:** Reuters via Google News | The Guardian | The Independent
**Sources:** Google News, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk

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