Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce reacted to Kylian Mbappe’s speed comparison. While the Paris Saint-Germain football player’s sprint speed on the field is impressive for any player in that sport, it certainly wouldn’t earn him a place among the greats in track and field sprint competition.
Earlier this week, the BBC shared a post on X comparing Kylian Mbappe’s 10.9 seconds 100-meter sprint time to Usain Bolt’s World Record of 9.58 seconds. The post has garnered much discussion, which is likely what the publication intended, but some folks are questioning more than just the intent behind the post, calling it senseless since a full second in a 100-meter sprint is a massive difference.
“For the football players getting offended by this: No one is saying he isn’t a great athlete or is fast for a football player being. But to compare him with Bolt, and say that 1.3 sec is close to beat him, is just disrespectful to our sport… It is just non comparable,” one person wrote. Another added, “The under 14 boys 100m record in Jamaica is 10.6.”
Still, some folks defended the post in favor of Mbappe, saying he did that sprint several times during a 90-minute match. “I respect and love both athletes but would love to measure Bolt’s time after chasing a ball around for quite some time. Newsflash Admin: these are two totally different sports,” one person said.
Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also reacted to the post via Instagram with Fraser-Pryce leaving two laughing emojis in the comments. On the other hand, Usain re-shared it on his Instagram Story without adding any commentary on the matter.
Kylian Mbappe is currently one of the fastest players in professional football, but one can argue that even his fastest time is not enough for a real shot at the Olympic 100-meter dash. In fact, even Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s time in the female 100-meter dash is faster, and considering the measurement takes into consideration that Mbappe was already on his feet moving.
Nevertheless, the comparison was not warranted, judging from most of the responses from fans of the two athletes.
