Guy in a Jet Suit Smashes Usain Bolt’s 100 M Record

While Richard already holds the record of the fastest speed in a body-controlled jet engine powered suit by flying 85 mph (137 kph), he decided to tackle a different kind of challenge to prove the capabilities of his gravity-defying gadget. In an interpretation of iconic athletics events, the British inventor tried to beat world records at the Southampton Athletics Centre.

The tests were much stricter, given the fact that running doesn’t stand a chance to flying. Among them, Richard took on the 100-meter dash, 400-meter hurdles, and the pole vault, focusing on speed. Starting with the 100-meter challenge, he successfully surpassed Usain Bolt’s 9.58 seconds record, achieving 7.69 seconds and flying at a speed of 35 mph (56 kph).

Okay, flying in a straight line fast enough doesn’t seem too hard to achieve when you have a jetpack to power you up. But going up and down between hurdles proved to be a bit more difficult. In fact, getting low enough without touching the ground was one of the guidelines set for Richard. Nonetheless, he managed to break the 46.78 world record set by the former athlete Kevin Young in 1992 and achieved 42.06 seconds.

For his last challenge, Richard had to fly 40 meters (131 ft) up to the pole, climb up to six meters (19.6 ft), and then land on a mat, all in 15 seconds. He beat up this one too, with a record of 13.09 seconds. This only proves that it is pretty handy to have a jet suit around when it comes to competing with human power.

While all this real-life Iron man action was breaking down at the Southampton Athletics Centre, in Elvington, a wheelie bin, a wheelbarrow, and a motorized water closet were having a blast racing each other. We can safely say that it was a day packed with unexpected results.