Chinese Robots Shatter Usain Bolt’s Sprint Record at Beijing Games

BEIJING — A bipedal machine named Tiangong Ultra crossed the finish line in 9.39 seconds. The crowd roared. Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second 100-meter world record, untouched by any human since 2009, had just fallen to a robot.

That moment came on the opening day of the second World Humanoid Robot Games. Held inside the National Speed Skating Oval built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the event drew more than 2,000 machines from 666 teams across 16 countries. They competed in 51 events ranging from sprints to table tennis, soccer, weightlifting and tug of war. But the 100 meters stole the show.

Tiangong Ultra, developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, won its preliminary heat. Honor’s Lightning robot, which had posted an even faster 9.32 seconds in a pre-event test and reached a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second, finished second in the heat with 9.47 seconds. Both times beat Bolt’s mark. Reuters reported the results.

The high jump produced similar shock. One humanoid cleared 2.88 meters in a standing leap. That easily topped the previous year’s best robotic mark of 0.95 meters and surpassed the human world record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor in 1993. Both the sprint and jump feats came from Beijing-based X-Humanoid, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

These performances mark a sharp acceleration. At last year’s inaugural games Tiangong Ultra needed 21.50 seconds to win the 100 meters. The same robot later claimed victory in the world’s first humanoid half-marathon. Honor’s Lightning followed that up this April by completing a 21-kilometer race in 50 minutes 26 seconds, beating the human world record by nearly seven minutes. Fortune detailed the progression.

China sees humanoid robots as a strategic emerging industry. Policymakers and companies bet that advances in artificial intelligence combined with better hardware will speed adoption in factories, warehouses and homes. Investor appetite matches the ambition. Shares in Unitree, one of the country’s best-known makers, jumped more than fivefold on their Shanghai debut earlier this week, pushing the company’s market value near $50 billion.

The timing of the games overlapped with the 2026 World Robot Conference, where exhibitors displayed around 3,000 products. China already produces the majority of the world’s humanoid robots. That dominance has drawn pushback. Last month the U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots for national-security reasons. The Pentagon added Unitree to its list of firms with alleged ties to the Chinese military. Beijing has rejected the accusations.

Yet on the track the machines looked unstoppable. Lightning stood 169 centimeters tall during its half-marathon win with 95-centimeter legs. Researchers lengthened those legs by 10 centimeters to 1.05 meters before these games, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The extra stride length helped.

Still, engineers and analysts caution that real-world usefulness remains limited. Most current models excel at demonstrations, performances and controlled research tasks. Mass deployment in unstructured environments will take more time. Balance, reliable stopping and safe interaction with people continue to pose challenges. One test run before the games ended with a robot losing control, slamming into trackside equipment and spraying sparks.

Spectators reacted with a mix of awe and acceptance. Li Yanfeng, an education worker from Beijing, said the progress felt unstoppable. “At first, I wasn’t very accepting of artificial intelligence. I was even a bit resistant to it, because of the possibility that it might replace or displace humans,” she told reporters. “But now that I see this development is unstoppable, I decided to come and take a look.” She added that watching robots perform familiar human sports felt amazing.

Another attendee, Yang Shangzheng, echoed the sentiment. Liu Tao brought his son specifically to see the best machines China can offer right now. Their comments, captured by AP journalists Achmad Ibrahim and Chan Ho-Him, reflect a public shifting from skepticism to curiosity.

The event’s scale has grown fast. Last year featured 280 teams. This year’s gathering included participants from Germany, Japan and the United States among others. Organizers staged a synchronized march of hundreds of humanoids across the field at the opening ceremony. Thirty-six robots equipped with five-finger dexterous hands performed on musical instruments. The five-day program runs through Wednesday.

But the sprint results dominate conversation. BBC shared video of Lightning’s trial run, noting the manufacturer’s claim of 9.32 seconds. The clip quickly circulated. Al Jazeera and The Guardian carried similar accounts, highlighting the peak speed and the broader push into athletics as a proving ground for control systems and power efficiency.

From a technical standpoint the numbers raise questions about how the robots achieve them. Engineers have improved actuators, reduced weight, refined gait algorithms and optimized energy delivery. Longer legs on Lightning provide mechanical advantage. Enhanced sensors and real-time feedback loops help maintain stability at high speeds. Yet the machines still show limits. Crashes during deceleration reveal that braking and balance lag behind raw acceleration.

These games function as both spectacle and benchmark. They allow developers to test hardware under pressure while showcasing national capability. For China the message is clear: its robotics sector has moved from follower to leader in certain performance metrics. Whether those gains translate into economic or military advantage remains to be seen. For now they deliver undeniable visuals. A robot just ran faster than the fastest human ever.

And the gap is widening. What took 21.5 seconds a year ago now takes under 10. Next year’s edition may produce times that look even more alien. Spectators like Li Yanfeng have already decided to watch closely. The rest of the world, especially those tracking the technology race between Washington and Beijing, will likely do the same.