Faster than Usain Bolt? Here's all the records robot 'athletes' broke at this year's World Humanoid Robot Games in China.

Robots at the 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing have shattered several men's athletics world records, showcasing impressive advancements in robotic performance. While these results do not replace the official human records, they highlight the significant progress made in robotics compared to the previous year's inaugural games.

Spanning five days from August 22nd to 26th, the five-day event drew 2,056 robots from 666 teams across 16 countries. The competitions featured various sports, including football and martial arts, as well as practical applications like warehouse logistics, factory-style assembly, and charging tasks.

Four human athletics records were broken during the games:

100 meters: Tiangong Ultra set a new record with a time of 8.64 seconds, nearly 0.94 seconds faster than the previous record held by Usain Bolt at 9.58 seconds.

400 meters: Tiangong Ultra dominated the 400 m final with a time of 38.15 seconds, which is almost 5 seconds faster than the current world record set by Wayde van Niekerk at 43.03 seconds.

1,500 meters: Tiangong Ultra from Team Tianzhuo claimed the record with a time of 2 minutes, 21.6 seconds, markedly below the previous record set by Hicham El Guerrouj in 1998.

High jump: A robot from X-Humanoid achieved a standing high jump of 2.88 meters, breaking the previous record set by Javier Sotomayor in 1993. However, it is important to note that this event required a different technique, as the robot performed a standing jump rather than the more complex running high jump, as used by human athletes.