--- title: Usain Bolt Has Never Run a Mile description: The sprinter keeps to short distances, according to his agent canonical: https://time.com/4436498/usain-bolt-has-never-run-a-mile/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-03T12:37:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:44:19.072Z article:section: Sports og:title: Usain Bolt Has Never Run a Mile (No, Really) og:description: The sprinter keeps to short distances, according to his agent og:url: https://time.com/4436498/usain-bolt-has-never-run-a-mile/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3993430221e70172/6988a0ebab6d7730986aac6e/usain-bolt.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Muller Anniversary Games - IAAF Diamond League 2016: Day One og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Usain Bolt Has Never Run a Mile (No, Really) twitter:description: The sprinter keeps to short distances, according to his agent twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3993430221e70172/6988a0ebab6d7730986aac6e/usain-bolt.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Usain Bolt Has Never Run a Mile (No, Really) by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 3, 2016 12:37 PM CUT  Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning the mens 200m during day one of the Muller Anniversary Games at The Stadium - Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London on July 22, 2016. Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning the mens 200m during day one of the Muller Anniversary Games at The Stadium - Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London on July 22, 2016.Stephen Pond—British Athletics/Getty Image by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 3, 2016 12:37 PM CUT [Usain Bolt](http://time.com/4417114/usain-bolt-olympics-russia-doping/ "undefined") will get the chance to capture more sprinting gold medals in the Olympics this month, in the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 4×100 meter relay. The Jamaican sprinter is so fast, he’s earned himself the nickname Lightning Bolt—but how fast could he run a longer distance? Say, a mile? The [_New Yorker_ ](http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/how-fast-would-usain-bolt-run-the-mile?mbid=social%5Ftwitter "undefined")recently tried to speculate what time Bolt would clock on a mile run, and found that it’s possible he might not fare better than a pretty good member of a high school track team—his body, tall and muscular, is better suited for sprinting than distance running. But there’s no way of knowing for sure whether his mile run would take four, five, or six minutes, because he has never tried. That’s right: The fastest man in the world has never done the thing pretty much every American high schooler has to do. Bolt’s agent Ricky Simms confirmed to the _New Yorker_ in an email statement, “Usain has never run a mile.” But hey, at 29 years old, he still has plenty of time to try out a new hobby. \[[_The New Yorker_](http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/how-fast-would-usain-bolt-run-the-mile?mbid=social%5Ftwitter "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4436498/usain-bolt-has-never-run-a-mile/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4436498/usain-bolt-has-never-run-a-mile/"},"headline":"Usain Bolt Has Never Run a Mile (No, Really)","datePublished":"2016-08-03T12:37:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:44:19.072Z","description":"The sprinter keeps to short distances, according to his agent","url":"https://time.com/4436498/usain-bolt-has-never-run-a-mile/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3993430221e70172/6988a0ebab6d7730986aac6e/usain-bolt.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3993430221e70172/6988a0ebab6d7730986aac6e/usain-bolt.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Muller Anniversary Games - IAAF Diamond League 2016: Day One","caption":"Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning the mens 200m during day one of the Muller Anniversary Games at The Stadium - Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in in London on July 22, 2016.","creditText":"Stephen Pond—British Athletics/Getty Image","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4436498/usain-bolt-has-never-run-a-mile/","name":"Usain Bolt Has Never Run a Mile (No, Really)"}}]}] ```