50 metres

Athletics
50 metres
Athletics ; 50 metres
World records
Men	Donovan Bailey 5.56 A (1996)
Women	Irina Privalova 5.96 (1995)

Last updated February 05, 2026

50 metres, or 50-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field, featured as an alternative to the 60 metres running event. It is a relatively uncommon non-championship event for indoor track and field, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor athletics competitions it is used in the Special Olympics but otherwise a rare distance. The World Masters Rankings has recorded the event since the 2010s.^[1]

All-time top 25

Indoor results only
+ = en route to a longer distance
A = affected by altitude

Men

Updated February 2025.^[2]

Rank	Time	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref
1	5.56 A ^[B]	Donovan Bailey	Canada	9 February 1996	Reno
1	5.56	Maurice Greene	United States	13 February 1999	Los Angeles
3	5.58+	Leonard Scott	United States	26 February 2005	Liévin	^{[ citation needed ]}
4	5.60+	Michael Green	Jamaica	16 February 1997	Liévin
5	5.61	Manfred Kokot	East Germany	4 February 1973	Berlin
	5.61	James Sanford	United States	20 February 1981	San Diego
	5.61+	Deji Aliu	Nigeria	21 February 1999	Liévin
		Freddy Mayola	Cuba	16 February 2000	Madrid
		Jason Gardener	United Kingdom	16 February 2000	Madrid
10	5.62	Emmit King	United States	5 March 1986	Kobe
	5.62	Andre Cason	United States	15 February 1992	Los Angeles
	5.62+	Eric Nkansah	Ghana	21 February 1999	Liévin
	5.62+	Morné Nagel	South Africa	24 February 2002	Liévin
14	5.63	Stanley Floyd	United States	20 February 1981	San Diego
	5.63 A	Henry Neal	United States	10 February 1995	Reno
	5.63	Jon Drummond	United States	13 February 1999	Los Angeles
	5.63+	Lerone Clarke	Jamaica	14 February 2012	Liévin	^[3]
	5.63+	Ronnie Baker	United States	4 February 2025	Ostrava	^[4]
19	5.64	Davidson Ezinwa	Nigeria	15 February 1992	Los Angeles
		Aleksandr Porkhomovskiy	Russia	4 February 1994	Moscow
		Bruny Surin	Canada	27 January 1995	Moscow
	5.64+	Donovan Powell	Jamaica	21 February 1999	Liévin	^{[ citation needed ]}
		Leonard Myles-Mills	Ghana	13 February 2000	Liévin	^{[ citation needed ]}
		Ato Boldon	Trinidad and Tobago	16 February 2000	Madrid
		Tim Harden	United States	16 February 2000	Madrid	^{[ citation needed ]}
	5.64	Gerald Williams	United States	19 February 2000	Los Angeles
		Jeff Laynes	United States	20 January 2001	Los Angeles
		Asafa Powell	Jamaica	28 January 2012	New York City

^B Ben Johnson of Canada ran 5.55 at Ottawa, Canada on 31 January 1987, but this time was rescinded after Johnson admitted to using steroids between 1981 and 1988.

Notes

Below is a list of other times equal or superior to 5.63:

Maurice Greene also ran 5.59+ (1999).
Michael Green also ran 5.62+ (1997).
Donovan Bailey also ran 5.62 (1996).
Deji Aliu also ran 5.63+ (1999).
Freddy Mayola also ran 5.63+ (2001).

Outdoor best performances

+ = en route to 100m mark.N.B. The Seville marks listed are excluding the athlete's reaction times. Bolt's & Su's times are inclusive.

Rank	Time	Wind (m/s)	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref
1	5.40+ (calculated; add 0.127, or 0.13)	+0.2	Bruny Surin	Canada	22 August 1999	Seville	^[5]
2	5.42+ (calculated; add 0.132, or 0.14)		Maurice Greene	United States
3	5.43+ (calculated; add 0.140)		Dwain Chambers	Great Britain
4	5.45+	+0.9	Su Bingtian	China	1 August 2021	Tokyo	^[6]
5	5.46+ (calculated; add 0.136, or 0.14)	+0.2	Tim Harden	United States	22 August 1999	Seville	^[7]
6	5.47+ (calculated)	+0.9	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	16 August 2009	Berlin	^[8]

Women

Correct as of February 2025.^[9]

Rank	Time	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref
1	5.96+	Irina Privalova	Russia	9 February 1995	Madrid
2	6.00	Merlene Ottey	Jamaica	4 February 1994	Moscow
3	6.02+	Gail Devers	United States	21 February 1999	Liévin
4	6.04+	Chioma Ajunwa	Nigeria	22 February 1998	Liévin
5	6.05+	Savatheda Fynes	Bahamas	13 February 2000	Liévin
5	6.05+	Philomena Mensah	Canada	13 February 2000	Liévin
7	6.07 A	Gwen Torrence	United States	9 February 1996	Reno
8	6.08+	Christy Opara-Thompson	Nigeria	16 February 1997	Liévin
8	6.08	Veronica Campbell-Brown	Jamaica	28 January 2012	New York City
10	6.09	Zhanna Block	Ukraine	2 February 1993	Moscow
11	6.11	Marita Koch	East Germany	2 February 1980	Grenoble
	6.11+	Liliana Allen	Mexico	13 February 2000	Liévin
	6.11+	Christine Arron	France	26 February 2006	Aubière
14	6.12	Marlies Göhr	East Germany	2 February 1980	Grenoble
		Silke Möller	East Germany	19 February 1988	Berlin
		Anelia Nuneva	Bulgaria	27 January 1995	Moscow
	6.12+	Ewa Swoboda	Poland	4 February 2025	Ostrava	^[10]
	6.12+	Patrizia van der Weken	Luxembourg	4 February 2025	Ostrava	^[11]
19	6.13	Jeanette Bolden	United States	21 February 1981	Edmonton
		Michelle Finn-Burrell	United States	15 February 1992	Los Angeles
		Natalya Merzlyakova	Russia	4 February 1994	Moscow
		Ekaterina Grigorieva	Russia	4 February 1994	Moscow
	6.13+	Mercy Nku	Nigeria	25 February 2001	Liévin
24	6.14+	Frédérique Bangué	France	16 February 1997	Liévin
		Petya Pendareva	Bulgaria	21 February 1999	Liévin
		Muriel Hurtis	France	23 February 2003	Liévin
		LaVerne Jones-Ferrette	United States Virgin Islands	24 February 2012	Liévin

Note: Angella Issajenko of Canada ran a world record 6.06 in Ottawa on 13 January 1987, this performance was rescinded after Issajenko's admittance of long term drug use at the Dubin Inquiry in 1989.