60 Metres

It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the middle of the 'field', as is the hurdles event over the same distance, thus avoiding some of the effects of the banked track encircling the venue, upon which other track events in indoor events are run. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior athletes. The format of the event is similar to other sprint distances. The sprinters follow three initial instructions: 'on your marks', instructing them to take up position in the starting blocks; 'set', instructing them to adopt a more efficient starting posture, which also isometrically preloads their muscles. This will enable them to start faster. The final instruction is the firing of the starter's pistol. Upon hearing this the sprinters stride forwards from the blocks.

Athletics 60 metres
World records
Men	Christian Coleman 6.34 A (2018)
Women	Irina Privalova 6.92 (1993, 1995)
World Indoor Championship records
Men	Christian Coleman 6.37 (2018)
Women	Gail Devers 6.95 (1993)

The 60 metres was an Olympic event in the 1900 and 1904 Summer Games but was removed from the schedule thereafter. American Christian Coleman currently holds the men's world record in the 60 metres with a time of 6.34 seconds, while Russian Irina Privalova holds the women's world record at 6.92.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Semi-Finals, Su Bingtian ran the fastest 60 m split of all-time and the fastest 60 m ever recorded under any conditions with a time of 6.29 seconds.

In the past, it was common for athletes to compete in the 60 yards (54.86 m) race. This is not part of the lineage of the 60 metres, but is the predecessor of the 55 metres race. 60 metres is 65.6168 yards.

Traditionally, the 60 m indoor event serves as the equivalent of preseason for the outdoor 100 m event, and sprinters do not peak until outdoor season. This is why elite sprinters almost always run a faster 60 m split en route to their 100 m time during outdoor season than their best 60 m indoor time, even after adjusting for wind assistance (wind assistance has lesser impact on shorter distance such as 60 m than on longer distance race). Given that 60 m splits were achieved en route to 100 m performances and the athletes weren't able to lean for the finish at the 60 m mark, elite sprinters could be expected to run even faster 60 m times than their best en route splits if they specifically raced a 60 m race during outdoor season.^{[citation needed]}

Usain Bolt ran a 6.31 seconds 60 m split, the second fastest split all-time, en route to his 100 m world record, despite never having participated in the 60 m indoor event. Asafa Powell ran a 6.32 seconds split, while clocking only 6.44 seconds in the 60 m indoor event. 2012 Indoor 60 m World Champion Justin Gatlin, who has the personal best of 6.34 for the 60 m split, ran 6.45 seconds indoors. Former indoor world record holder and 1999 Indoor 60 m World Champion Maurice Greene ran a 6.33 split outdoors compared to his 6.39 indoor personal best. The current indoor world record holder Christian Coleman clocked in at 6.32 seconds en route to his 9.76 seconds 100 m personal best, significantly faster than his 6.34 indoor world record which he set at 5,312 feet altitude (equivalent to 6.37 indoor after adjusting for the effect of altitude).

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, en route to his 100 m personal best of 9.83 seconds, Su Bingtian, who has the indoor personal best of 6.42, ran the fastest 60 m split of all-time with a time of 6.29 seconds.

Updated 3 March 2024.

Area	Men			Women
	Time (s)	Athlete	Nation	Time (s)	Athlete	Nation
Africa	6.45 A	Leonard Myles-Mills	Ghana	6.97	Murielle Ahouré	Ivory Coast
Asia	6.42	Su Bingtian	China	7.09	Susanthika Jayasinghe	Sri Lanka
Europe	6.41	Marcell Jacobs	Italy	6.92	Irina Privalova	Russia
North, Central America and Caribbean	6.34 A	Christian Coleman	United States	6.94 A	Aleia Hobbs Julien Alfred	United States   Saint Lucia
Oceania	6.52	Matthew Shirvington	Australia	7.06	Zoe Hobbs	New Zealand
South America	6.52	José Carlos Moreira	Brazil	7.14	Vitoria Cristina Rosa	Brazil

Indoor results only

Men

Updated April 2024.

Ath.#	Perf.#	Time (s)	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref.
1	1	6.34 A	Christian Coleman	United States	18 February 2018	Albuquerque
	2	6.37	Coleman #2		19 January 2018	Clemson
			Coleman #3		3 March 2018	Birmingham
2	4	6.39	Maurice Greene	United States	3 February 1998	Madrid
	4	6.39	Greene #2		3 March 2001	Atlanta
	6	6.40	Greene #3		27 February 1999	Atlanta
3	6	6.40 A	Ronnie Baker	United States	18 February 2018	Albuquerque
4	8	6.41	Andre Cason	United States	14 February 1992	Madrid
	8	6.41	Greene #4		1 February 1998	Stuttgart
5	8	6.41	Marcell Jacobs	Italy	19 March 2022	Belgrade
	8	6.41	Coleman #4		19 March 2022	Belgrade
			Coleman #5		1 March 2024	Glasgow
	13	6.42	Greene #5		7 March 1999	Maebashi
6	13	6.42	Dwain Chambers	Great Britain	7 March 2009	Turin
	13	6.42 A	Coleman #6		18 February 2018	Albuquerque
7	13	6.42	Su Bingtian	China	3 March 2018	Birmingham
			Trayvon Bromell	United States	10 February 2023	Clemson
	18	6.43	Greene #6		1 February 1998	Stuttgart
9	18	6.43	Tim Harden	United States	7 March 1999	Maebashi
	18	6.43	Su #2		6 February 2018	Düsseldorf
10	18	6.43 A	Noah Lyles	United States	17 February 2024	Albuquerque
	18	6.43	Coleman #7		1 March 2024	Glasgow
	23	6.44	Harden #2		27 February 1999	Atlanta
			Harden #3		11 March 2001	Lisbon
11	23	6.44	Asafa Powell	Jamaica	18 March 2016	Portland
	23	6.44	Powell #2		18 March 2016	Portland
			Baker #2		3 March 2018	Birmingham
			Baker #3		19 February 2020	Liévin
			Baker #4		21 February 2020	Madrid
12	23	6.44	Marvin Bracy	United States	19 March 2022	Belgrade
	23	6.44	Lyles #2		4 February 2024	Boston
		6.44 A	Coleman #8		17 February 2024	Albuquerque
		6.44	Lyles #3		1 March 2024	Glasgow
13		6.45	Bruny Surin	Canada	13 February 1993	Liévin
		6.45 A	Leonard Myles-Mills	Ghana	20 February 1999	Colorado Springs
			Terrence Trammell	United States	17 February 2001	Pocatello
		6.45	Justin Gatlin	United States	1 March 2003	Boston
			Ronald Pognon	France	13 February 2005	Karlsruhe
		6.45 A	Trell Kimmons	United States	26 February 2012	Albuquerque
		6.45	Terrence Jones	Bahamas	15 January 2022	Lubbock
			Ackeem Blake	Jamaica	4 February 2024	Boston
21		6.46	Jon Drummond	United States	1 February 1998	Stuttgart
		6.46 A	Marcus Brunson	United States	30 January 1999	Flagstaff
		6.46	Jason Gardener	Great Britain	7 March 1999	Maebashi
			Tim Montgomery	United States	11 March 2001	Lisbon
			Leonard Scott	United States	26 February 2005	Liévin

Note: The following athletes have had their performances annulled due to doping offences:

Time (s)	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref
6.41	Ben Johnson	Canada	7 March 1987	Indianapolis

Outdoor best performances

+ = en route to 100 m mark

Rank	Time (s)	Wind (m/s)	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref
1	6.29+ (calculated)	+0.9	Su Bingtian	China	1 August 2021	Tokyo
2	6.31+ (calculated)	+0.9	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	16 August 2009	Berlin
3	6.32+ (calculated)	+1.7	Asafa Powell	Jamaica	9 September 2007	Rieti
		+1.7	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	31 May 2008	New York City
		0.0	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	16 August 2008	Beijing
		+0.2	Asafa Powell	Jamaica	2 September 2009	Lausanne
		+1.5	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	5 August 2012	London
		+0.6	Christian Coleman	United States	28 September 2019	Doha
9	6.33+ (calculated)	−0.2	Maurice Greene	United States	5 August 2001	Edmonton
		−0.1	Yohan Blake	Jamaica	23 August 2012	Lausanne
11	6.34+ (calculated)	+0.9	Justin Gatlin	United States	23 August 2015	Beijing

Note: The following athletes have had their associated 100 m performances annulled due to doping offences:

Time (s)	Wind (m/s)	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref
6.33+ (calculated)	+1.1	Ben Johnson	Canada	24 September 1988	Seoul

Women

Updated March 2024.

Ath.#	Perf.#	Time (s)	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref.
1	1	6.92	Irina Privalova	Russia	11 February 1993	Madrid
	1	6.92	Privalova #2		9 February 1995	Madrid
	3	6.93	Privalova #3		13 February 1994	Liévin
	4	6.94	Privalova #4		19 February 1995	Liévin
2	4	6.94 A	Aleia Hobbs	United States	18 February 2023	Albuquerque
			Julien Alfred	Saint Lucia	11 March 2023	Albuquerque
4	6	6.95	Gail Devers	United States	12 March 1993	Toronto
	6	6.95	Privalova #5		6 February 1994	Vienna
			Privalova #6		14 February 1995	Moscow
5	6	6.95	Marion Jones	United States	7 March 1998	Maebashi
6	10	6.96	Merlene Ottey	Jamaica	14 February 1992	Madrid
	10	6.96	Privalova #7		11 February 1993	Madrid
7	10	6.96	Ekaterini Thanou	Greece	7 March 1999	Maebashi
			Mujinga Kambundji	Switzerland	18 March 2022	Belgrade
	10	6.96 A	Alfred #2		10 March 2023	Albuquerque
	15	6.97	Privalova #8		14 February 1992	Madrid
			Privalova #9		12 March 1993	Toronto
			Privalova #10		11 February 1994	Madrid
			Privalova #11		12 February 1995	Ghent
			Ottey #2		19 February 1995	Liévin
			Ottey #3		10 March 1995	Ghent
9	15	6.97	LaVerne Jones-Ferrette	United States Virgin Islands	6 February 2010	Stuttgart
			Murielle Ahouré	Ivory Coast	2 March 2018	Birmingham
	15	6.97	Alfred #3		25 February 2023	Lubbock
	24	6.98	Privalova #12		27 February 1993	Moscow
			Devers #2		21 February 1999	Liévin
11	24	6.98	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	9 March 2014	Sopot
			Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	18 February 2017	Birmingham
	24	6.98	Hobbs #2		28 January 2023	Fayetteville
11	24	6.98	Ewa Swoboda	Poland	2 March 2024	Glasgow
	24	6.98	Alfred #4		2 March 2024	Glasgow
14		6.99	Mikiah Brisco	United States	18 March 2022	Belgrade
15		7.00	Nelli Cooman	Netherlands	23 February 1986	Madrid
			Veronica Campbell-Brown	Jamaica	14 March 2010	Doha
			Dafne Schippers	Netherlands	13 February 2016	Berlin
			Barbara Pierre	United States	12 March 2016	Portland
19		7.01	Savatheda Fynes	Bahamas	7 March 1999	Maebashi
			Me'Lisa Barber	United States	10 March 2006	Moscow
			Lauryn Williams	United States	10 March 2006	Moscow
22		7.02	Gwen Torrence	United States	2 February 1996	New York City
			Christy Opara-Thompson	Nigeria	12 February 1997	Ghent
			Chioma Ajunwa	Nigeria	22 February 1998	Liévin
			Philomena Mensah	Canada	7 March 1999	Maebashi
		7.02 A	Carmelita Jeter	United States	28 February 2010	Albuquerque
		7.02	Tianna Madison	United States	11 February 2012	Fayetteville
		7.02 A	Javianne Oliver	United States	18 February 2018	Albuquerque
		7.02	Marie-Josée Ta Lou	Ivory Coast	20 February 2019	Düsseldorf
			Zaynab Dosso	Italy	6 February 2024	Toruń

Outdoor best performances

+ = en route to 100 m mark

Rank	Time (s)	Wind (m/s)	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref
1	6.81+ (calculated)	+0.1	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	29 September 2019	Doha
2	6.85+ (calculated)	−0.1	Marion Jones	United States	22 August 1999	Seville
3	6.87+ (calculated)	0.0	Florence Griffith-Joyner	United States	16 July 1988	Indianapolis
		+0.9	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	21 August 2021	Eugene
5	6.91+ (calculated)	+0.1	Dina Asher-Smith	Great Britain	29 September 2019	Doha

Men

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1985 Parisa details	Ben Johnson (CAN)	Sam Graddy (USA)	Ronald Desruelles (BEL)
1987 Indianapolis details	Lee McRae (USA) b	Mark Witherspoon (USA)	Pierfrancesco Pavoni (ITA)
1989 Budapest details	Andrés Simón (CUB)	John Myles-Mills (GHA)	Pierfrancesco Pavoni (ITA)
1991 Seville details	Andre Cason (USA)	Linford Christie (GBR)	Chidi Imo (NGR)
1993 Toronto details	Bruny Surin (CAN)	Frankie Fredericks (NAM)	Talal Mansour (QAT)
1995 Barcelona details	Bruny Surin (CAN)	Darren Braithwaite (GBR)	Robert Esmie (CAN)
1997 Paris details	Haralabos Papadias (GRE)	Michael Green (JAM)	Davidson Ezinwa (NGR)
1999 Maebashi details	Maurice Greene (USA)	Tim Harden (USA)	Jason Gardener (GBR)
2001 Lisbon details	Tim Harden (USA)	Tim Montgomery (USA)	Mark Lewis-Francis (GBR)
2003 Birmingham details	Justin Gatlin (USA)	Kim Collins (SKN)	Jason Gardener (GBR)
2004 Budapest details	Jason Gardener (GBR)	Shawn Crawford (USA)	Georgios Theodoridis (GRE)
2006 Moscow details	Leonard Scott (USA)	Andrey Epishin (RUS)	Terrence Trammell (USA)
2008 Valencia details	Olusoji Fasuba (NGR)	Kim Collins (SKN)   Dwain Chambers (GBR)	none awarded
2010 Doha details	Dwain Chambers (GBR)	Mike Rodgers (USA)	Daniel Bailey (ATG)
2012 Istanbul details	Justin Gatlin (USA)	Nesta Carter (JAM)	Dwain Chambers (GBR)
2014 Sopot details	Richard Kilty (GBR)	Marvin Bracy (USA)	Femi Ogunode (QAT)
2016 Portland details	Trayvon Bromell (USA)	Asafa Powell (JAM)	Ramon Gittens (BAR)
2018 Birmingham details	Christian Coleman (USA)	Su Bingtian (CHN)	Ronnie Baker (USA)
2022 Belgrade details	Marcell Jacobs (ITA)	Christian Coleman (USA)	Marvin Bracy (USA)
2024 Glasgow details	Christian Coleman (USA)	Noah Lyles (USA)	Ackeem Blake (JAM)

^a The event was known as the World Indoor Games in 1985.
^b Ben Johnson of Canada originally won the gold medal, but he was disqualified in 1989 after admitting to steroid use between 1981 and 1988.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	10	9	3	22
2	Great Britain (GBR)	3	3	4	10
3	Canada (CAN)	3	0	1	4
4	Italy (ITA)	1	0	2	3
	Nigeria (NGR)	1	0	2	3
6	Greece (GRE)	1	0	1	2
7	Cuba (CUB)	1	0	0	1
8	Jamaica (JAM)	0	3	1	4
9	Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN)	0	2	0	2
10	China (CHN)	0	1	0	1
	Ghana (GHA)	0	1	0	1
	Namibia (NAM)	0	1	0	1
	Russia (RUS)	0	1	0	1
14	Qatar (QAT)	0	0	2	2
15	Antigua and Barbuda (ATG)	0	0	1	1
	Barbados (BAR)	0	0	1	1
	Belgium (BEL)	0	0	1	1
Totals (17 entries)		20	21	19	60

Women

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1985 Parisa details	Silke Gladisch (GDR)	Heather Oakes (GBR)	Christelle Bulteau (FRA)
1987 Indianapolis details	Nelli Fiere-Cooman (NED)	Anelia Nuneva (BUL) b	Angela Bailey (CAN)
1989 Budapest details	Nelli Fiere-Cooman (NED)	Gwen Torrence (USA)	Merlene Ottey (JAM)
1991 Seville details	Irina Sergeyeva (URS)	Merlene Ottey (JAM)	Liliana Allen (CUB)
1993 Toronto details	Gail Devers (USA)	Irina Privalova (RUS)	Zhanna Tarnopolskaya (UKR)
1995 Barcelona details	Merlene Ottey (JAM)	Melanie Paschke (GER)	Carlette Guidry (USA)
1997 Paris details	Gail Devers (USA)	Chandra Sturrup (BAH)	Frederique Bangue (FRA)
1999 Maebashi details	Ekaterini Thanou (GRE)	Gail Devers (USA)	Philomena Mensah (CAN)
2001 Lisbon details	Chandra Sturrup (BAH)	Angela Williams (USA)	Chryste Gaines (USA)
2003 Birmingham details	Angela Williams (USA) c	Torri Edwards (USA)	Merlene Ottey (SLO)
2004 Budapest details	Gail Devers (USA)	Kim Gevaert (BEL)	Yulia Nestsiarenka (BLR)
2006 Moscow details	Me'Lisa Barber (USA)	Lauryn Williams (USA)	Kim Gevaert (BEL)
2008 Valencia details	Angela Williams (USA)	Jeanette Kwakye (GBR)	Tahesia Harrigan (IVB)
2010 Doha details	Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)	Carmelita Jeter (USA)	Ruddy Zang Milama (GAB)
2012 Istanbul details	Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)	Murielle Ahouré (CIV)	Tianna Madison (USA)
2014 Sopot details	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)	Murielle Ahouré (CIV)	Tianna Bartoletta (USA)
2016 Portland details	Barbara Pierre (USA)	Dafne Schippers (NED)	Elaine Thompson (JAM)
2018 Birmingham details	Murielle Ahouré (CIV)	Marie-Josée Ta Lou (CIV)	Mujinga Kambundji (SUI)
2022 Belgrade details	Mujinga Kambundji (SUI)	Mikiah Brisco (USA)	Marybeth Sant-Price (USA)
2024 Glasgow details	Julien Alfred (LCA)	Ewa Swoboda (POL)	Zaynab Dosso (ITA)

^a The event was known as the World Indoor Games in 1985.
^b Angella Issajenko of Canada originally won the silver medal, but she was disqualified in 1989 after admitting to steroid use between 1982 and 1988.
^c Zhanna Block originally won the gold medal, but she was disqualified after her results from November 2002 onwards were deleted in 2011 for long-term drug use.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	7	7	5	19
2	Jamaica (JAM)	4	1	2	7
3	Netherlands (NED)	2	1	0	3
4	Ivory Coast (CIV)	1	3	0	4
5	Bahamas (BAH)	1	1	0	2
6	Switzerland (SWI)	1	0	1	2
7	East Germany (GDR)	1	0	0	1
	Greece (GRE)	1	0	0	1
	Saint Lucia (LCA)	1	0	0	1
	Soviet Union (URS)	1	0	0	1
11	Great Britain (GBR)	0	2	0	2
12	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	1	2
13	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	1	0	1
	Germany (GER)	0	1	0	1
	Poland (POL)	0	1	0	1
	Russia (RUS)	0	1	0	1
17	Canada (CAN)	0	0	2	2
	France (FRA)	0	0	2	2
19	Belarus (BLR)	0	0	1	1
	British Virgin Islands (IVB)	0	0	1	1
	Cuba (CUB)	0	0	1	1
	Gabon (GAB)	0	0	1	1
	Italy (ITA)	0	0	1	1
	Slovenia (SLO)	0	0	1	1
	Ukraine (UKR)	0	0	1	1
Totals (25 entries)		20	20	20	60

• 2020/21 in 60 metres

• All-time men's best 60 metres from alltime-athletics.com
• All-time women's best 60 metres from alltime-athletics.com