Usain Bolt’s 100m world record has stood for 15 years but nobody has come close to eclipsing the Jamaican’s feat since.

The sprint legend was at the peak of his powers when he won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in 9.69 seconds.

His record time has never been beatenGetty Images – Getty

Fans were unaware at the time that Bolt was merely warming up for what was to come 12-months later – an unprecedented world record 9.58 seconds recorded in Berlin.

Since then, nobody, not even Bolt, has been able to replicate that night in the German capital.

The most recent high-profile attempt came at the Paris Olympics this summer when the USA’s Noah Lyles took 100m gold in 9.79 seconds.

The time was Lyles’ personal best but remains 0.21 seconds behind the Jamaican’s seemingly-untouchable record.

As Bolt continues to rule the sprint world long after his retirement in 2017, the question remains: Will his record ever be broken?

With times having gotten quicker over the years the chances of a future sub-nine second race appears likely, according to a study.

Polly McGuigan and Aki Salo conducted research at the University of Bath in 2022 and concluded that they expect Bolt’s record to be broken in the future and by some margin.

However, they claim that a mixture of genetics and training would be needed, ruling out a host of current athletes based on their DNA.

The study reads: “A combination of genetics and training would need to produce bum, thigh and calf muscles which are a little bit stronger and faster than the current best sprinters.”

In contrast, researchers Peter Weyand and Sam Allen believe Bolt’s lightning speed will never be matched because of genetics.

Bolt smashed the world 100m record in Berlin in 2009AFP – Getty

Allen says the fastest sprinters spend about 60 percent of the time in the air, with no foot on the ground with amateur sprinters at 50 percent airtime.

Bolt’s huge 6ft 5in frame is also believed to be a factor in his success due to the length of his legs and the incredible speed he can generate.

During his career Bolt would complete a 100m race in around 41 steps which amounted to around three to four steps less than his rivals.

Allen said: “The best sprinters will always benefit from having a huge amount of natural ability.”

We asked the man himself earlier this year prior to his appearance on Soccer Aid.

Speaking before the Paris Olympics, Bolt was rightly confident that his record would be safe.

 “I’ve not seen the talent yet to get there,” Bolt told us.

 Bolt also suggested he could have been even faster in his prime.

“My coach said you haven’t seen the best of Usain Bolt,” he said.

“And I thought it was crazy when he said it to me. I think I’m different.

“I was never the type of person who could go 100 per cent and train all year. I was never that person.

Lyles became an Olympic 100m gold medallist in Paris but his career best time was nowhere near that of Bolt’s recordGetty

“I needed breaks to have fun and go and relax, then come back to track and field.

“My coach hated it, but he understood it. I needed to take time off to go and be a human. But we understood each other.

“He would say, these next two months are very important so you need to lock in, and I would say, cool – let’s go.”