The ten fastest 100m times ever run by a woman, from Florence Griffith Joyner's still-standing world record to the tenth-quickest mark in history.
Quick answer: 1. Florence Griffith Joyner, 2. Elaine Thompson-Herah, 3. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 4. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, 5. Adaejah Hodge, 6. Carmelita Jeter, 7. Marion Jones, 8. Shericka Jackson, 9. Sha'Carri Richardson, 10. Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith.
Women's 100m sprinting has never been faster than it is right now: seven of the ten quickest times on this list were set in 2021 or later, yet the record at the very top has stood untouched since 1988. This ranking lists each athlete's single fastest official World Athletics-recognized 100m — one personal best per athlete — ordered from quickest to slowest. It's a snapshot of the all-time elite, spanning four decades and eight nations. Alongside each time you'll find the wind reading, the date, and the place it was set, so you can see exactly how each mark was run.
Her 10.49 at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis remains the official World Athletics world record nearly four decades on. A 1995 statistical analysis estimated the true wind was likely around +5.0 to +7.0 m/s despite the 0.0 reading, so statisticians widely regard it as probably wind-assisted, but World Athletics still recognizes it as the record.
The second-fastest woman in history, run at the 2021 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene with a legal +0.9 m/s wind. It is the fastest fully wind-legal, uncontroversial time ever recorded.
Third-fastest ever, set at the 2021 Lausanne Diamond League with a +1.7 m/s wind. The Jamaican is a multiple Olympic and world 100m champion.
Set while winning the 2025 World Championship title in Tokyo with a +0.3 m/s wind, making her the fourth-fastest woman in history.
Ran 10.63 (+1.9 m/s) at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, breaking the collegiate record and becoming the fifth-fastest woman of all time.
Set at the 2009 Shanghai Golden Grand Prix with a +1.2 m/s wind; her 10.64 stood as the third-fastest time in history for over a decade, behind only Florence Griffith Joyner's two 1988 marks.
Ran 10.65 (+1.1 m/s, altitude-assisted) in Johannesburg in 1998. She ranks seventh because her mark is the earliest of the three athletes tied at 10.65, and the tie is broken by date.
Ran 10.65 (+1.0 m/s) in Kingston in 2023. She shares the 10.65 mark and is ranked eighth on the earlier-date tiebreak.
Ran 10.65 (-0.2 m/s) while winning the 2023 World Championship title in Budapest — the only one of the three 10.65 marks run into a headwind. She is ranked ninth on the date tiebreak.
Ran 10.72 (+0.4 m/s) in Monaco in 2022, the African record and the tenth-fastest time ever run by a woman.
| # | Name | nationality | wind_ms | date_set | location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florence Griffith Joyner | United States | 0.0 | 1988-07-16 | Indianapolis, USA |
| 2 | Elaine Thompson-Herah | Jamaica | +0.9 | 2021-08-21 | Eugene, USA |
| 3 | Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce | Jamaica | +1.7 | 2021-08-26 | Lausanne, Switzerland |
| 4 | Melissa Jefferson-Wooden | United States | +0.3 | 2025-09-14 | Tokyo, Japan |
| 5 | Adaejah Hodge | British Virgin Islands | +1.9 | 2026-06-11 | Eugene, USA |
| 6 | Carmelita Jeter | United States | +1.2 | 2009-09-20 | Shanghai, China |
| 7 | Marion Jones | United States | +1.1 | 1998-09-12 | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| 8 | Shericka Jackson | Jamaica | +1.0 | 2023-07-07 | Kingston, Jamaica |
| 9 | Sha'Carri Richardson | United States | -0.2 | 2023-08-21 | Budapest, Hungary |
| 10 | Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith | Ivory Coast | +0.4 | 2022-08-10 | Monaco |
Items are ranked by each athlete's fastest official, World Athletics-recognized 100m time, counting only one personal best per athlete (so no runner appears twice). Times are ordered from fastest to slowest — rank 1 is the quickest. Where two athletes share an identical time, the tie is broken by the date the mark was set, with the earlier mark ranked ahead. All times are electronically timed marks from the all-time top-performers lists maintained by World Athletics and the alltime-athletics database; figures and wind readings are cross-checked against Wikipedia's 100 metres all-time list. Altitude-assisted marks (e.g. Marion Jones's 1998 Johannesburg run, denoted 'A') are recognized on these all-time performer lists and are included. Note that a time may be recognized as a record or top mark even where the wind reading is disputed (see Florence Griffith Joyner's 10.49). This list reports what the official record-keepers recognize, not adjusted or hypothetical times.
The official World Athletics women's 100m world record is 10.49 seconds, set by Florence Griffith Joyner of the United States at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. It has stood since 1988 and remains recognized as the record, though the wind reading of 0.0 m/s is widely disputed — a 1995 statistical analysis estimated the true wind was likely around +5.0 to +7.0 m/s.
Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica, whose 10.54 seconds at the 2021 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene was run with a legal +0.9 m/s wind. It is the fastest women's 100m ever recorded without a disputed wind reading.
Marion Jones, Shericka Jackson, and Sha'Carri Richardson all have a personal best of 10.65. When times are identical, this list breaks the tie by the date the mark was set, ranking the earlier mark ahead — so Jones (1998) is 7th, Jackson (July 2023) is 8th, and Richardson (August 2023) is 9th.
No. This list ranks each athlete purely by their fastest official, World Athletics-recognized time, regardless of the wind reading. Wind is reported alongside each mark for context — a legal tailwind is +2.0 m/s or less — but the times are not adjusted for it.