Josh Addo-Carr - 38.5 km/h (Rugby League)
Yesterday I wrote about Rugby League players and just how fast they are with Josh Addo-Carr being the fastest man in rugby league. Check the post out here.
Sprinters are the fastest athletes in the world, but what ball sports has the fastest athletes? The speeds of some athletes are remarkable considering their training isn't sprint specific. At 23.9 mph, can rugby league's Josh Addo-Carr be beaten?
Trea Turner - 33.63 km/h (Baseball)
Whether baseball players are stealing bases, or turning a double into a triple, running between bases is fundamentally important. In 2021, Trea Turner clocked speeds of up to 20.9 mph. It's not at rugby league territory but it's remarkable still considering that sprinting would be far from a baseball fundamental they would be training for. Rugby league remains ahead for now.
Alphonso Davies – 36.53 km/h (Soccer/Football)
In 2020 Alphonso Davies clocked the fastest speed recorded in Bundesliga history at 22.7mph. This lad could probably represent Canada at the Olympics. The Ghanaian born left-back/winger weighs 75kg and is 1.83m tall and you can see his phenomenal pace below. What a pleasure it will be to see him represent Canada at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar later this year. His fast, but still, not as fast as the top speed of a rugby league player.
Raheem Mostert - 37.15 km/h (American Football)
The NFL has restrictions viewing it's content on external websites so you can check out the blistering run here. San Francisco 49er running back Raheem Mostert ran a blistering 23.09 mph and makes running look absolutely effortless. Remember that American football players are carrying an extra 5-10kg of weight in protective padding and their helmet. Mostert falls short of Addo-Carr's pace but keep the handicap in mind.
Jonny May - 37.71 km/h (Rugby Union)
Rugby league's bitter code rival, rugby union, is played very similarly and wingers have a fundamentally similar role. At the 2019 World Cup, English winger Jonny May reached a top speed of 23.43 mph, still just short of Josh Addo-Carr's 23.9 mph.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Josh Addo-Carr cannot be beaten by baseball, football/soccer, American football or rugby union players. Addo-Carr's pace falls short of Usain Bolt, who hit a world record 44.72 km/h (27.78 mph) in 2009.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Italian Lamont Marcell Jacobs achieved a top speed of 43 km/h (26.76 mph). Addo-Carr falls only 4.5 km/h (2.79 mph) short of an Olympic gold medal time which is remarkable. Rugby league therefore has the fastest athlete in all of ball sports.
However, I note that Raheem Mostert and NFL athletes are weighed down by up to 10kg of padding. I think with the padding off, they could give Addo-Carr and rugby league a run for their money.
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Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.
I had the privilege to watch Australia at the RL world cup last year, including seeing first hand how phenomenally quick Josh Addo-Carr is. He just goes off like a rocket and as soon as he gets in the clear it's game over, nobody is catching him!
It may be the way the sport is played, but Rugby League has a history of producing some very fast athletes. Others who spring to mind - Martin 'Chariots' Offiah and Jason 'Billy Whizz' Robinson to name a couple.
hey thats so cool mate. did you watch Samoa by any chance? I'm an Aussie with Samoan heritage. Was definitely enjoying that World Cup Final!
Ahh Samoa - they played well and deserved to beat us (England) in that semi final. Man that was an exciting game.
And they played really well in the final. But in RL Australia are just always the next level.
I volunteered at the Australia Vs Lebanon game and was on the pitch. Meeting Big Mal was a big moment for me!
oh wow! that wouldve been fantastic volunteering. Certainly looked like a great World Cup, the only hiccup was the first game I think there was an issue with playing the anthems or something at St James?
That semi final was phenomenal. When Crichton hit that field goal I just dropped. Can't understate how much it meant to Samoans and the diaspora around the world. Here in Sydney we had street parties every Sunday and Monday after they won. I took the little one and he embraced the culture and has never looked back. His a third gen. Aussie but definitely says his Samoan to everyone!
I tell you what though, guys like Farnworth and Dom Young are smashing it over here!
I love this blog of yours, I thought there was an athlete faster than a sprinter like Bolt.
Is there? I'd love to know if there is that would be unreal
Maybe I am just dreaming (^_^)
Some food for thought there! The speed of the athletes you chose in each of those videos was remarkable, more so because as you say they are not sprinters competing at an athletic level. The first one..... dam! He had the ball and as the commentator said - it was all over in the blink of an eye!
It's incredible! They're just naturally talented athletes who were built for sport. If they had specific sprinting training the sky is the limit!
This is a very unique point of thinking, specially when looking at the athletic part of the sprint involved in different sectors of the sports out there all over.
Good post!!
Just read your comment and had to find your article! Great stuff again :D
By the looks of it Carr is a real beast. Thinking about your comparison it is fair to consider the weight of the athletes but it would also be interesting to see the acceleration stats as I think that this is a far more important attribute to have, especially in explosive sports like rugby or football.
I think it is comparable to cars: An electric vehicle will outpace almost every sports car on the first few meters but will definetly loose if the track is longer than 1 km. (Depending on the cars of course, but I am speaking of normald day cars :D)
Thanks! 😀
Very good point you mention regarding acceleration. One of the problems is my favourite team has a young explosive star by the name of Reece Walsh. Now, he's explosive in his acceleration and it means he gets into open spaces on the rugby league field. The issue is though his top speed isn't too crash hot and he gets chased down at times.
Reminds me of a car I used to have, it was a VW Polo GTI. It was a 1.4L twin charged so it had a supercharger and a turbo! It was lightning quick but the top end speed (not that I needed to use it with 110km/h speed limits) would've meant that bigger cars would eventually pass it
Some time ago, in a note about Pedri, the Barcelona footballer, he was just talking about the fact that in football, speed was not so necessary to play well, at least it was not essential, however, without a doubt for footballers such as full-backs or wingers , possessing the virtue of being fast and having rapid acceleration allows them to take advantage of their rivals either when it comes to dealing damage or recovering from an attack on the contrary. Greetings.
I'd love to show Pedri my FIFA 17 team. My god it was my favourite team of all-time. Not sure if you play Ultimate Team but you've got to mix players based on "chemistry" which is same national team or same football league. Basically I somehow had Ibrahimovic upfront when he was in the MLS and I surrounded him with MLS players and American players. I had a defensive line that was all 60-rated but would beat everybody online because my entire defensive line all had 95+ speed.
Was the funnest I've ever had in FIFA. Nobody could through-ball or lob it over as my guys would just run straight up to them and crash tackle them over 😆
Josh Addo-Carr reaches incredible speed but I think that Gareth Bale in football also reached those levels, I have also seen Billy Hamilton in baseball reach very high speeds and I think that at the time he was the fastest in baseball.
Likewise, Josh Addo-Carr never ceases to amaze, he could easily compete in a 100-meter dash and be on par with the Olympic competitors.
Gareth Bale is def fast! I'd love to line all these guys up and have them sprint
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