Usain Bolt’s world record smashed by humanoid robots but with a clumsy twist

While the robots technically surpassed the world record, both had to be carried out on stretchers after the 100-metre run after collapsing into cushions designed to make them stop running.

World record: Bolt vs bots

The 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games have recorded a historic feat as humanoid robots ran faster than Usain Bolt’s World record.

According to the organisers, the winner for this year’s 100-metre race was Tiangong Ultra, finishing the race in 9.39 seconds.

Meanwhile, the second place was Lightning, which finished the race in 9.47 seconds.

Both robots were faster than Bolt’s record of 9.58 seconds which was set in 2009 during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.

Both records were set during the opening day of 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games which is on its second edition this year.

The organisers further reported that Lightning even finished the practice race in 9.32 seconds.

However, both robots needed to be carried out on stretchers after collapsing as they bumped onto safety cushions designed to make them stop running.

Nevertheless, the results showed drastic improvement from last year’s World Humanoid Robot Games.

Meanwhile, in another game, another humanoid robot reached 2.88 metres in standing high jump, beating another human record of 2.45 meters set by Javier Sotomayor in 1993. 

Last year, the best result achieved by a humanoid robot was 0.95 metres.

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2026 World Humanoid Robot Games

The 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games will be running from August 22-26 and are being held at Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval.

The event has around 2,000 robot participants from 16 countries and 666 teams.

Last year, which was the event’s inaugural year, 280 teams participated.

The event aims to show China’s robotics progress and development not only through competition and sports but also through simulation of real-world tasks such as in logistics, hospitality and household services.

The 2026 event includes sports such as running, table tennis, soccer, weightlifting and tug of war, and a challenge for robotic hands, including tightening screws, opening bottles and picking up beads with tweezers.

While the event showed massive progress in China’s robotics, experts believe that it will still take time to achieve China’s goal of mass deployment of the humanoid robots.

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