150 metres

150 metres is a sprint event in track and field. It is a very rarely contested non-championship event, and it is not recognised by World Athletics. Given the proportion of standard running tracks, the event typically incorporates a bend when held in a track and field stadium, although some specially-built tracks allow it to take place entirely on a straight.

Men Usain Bolt (JAM) 14.35 (2009)

Women Favour Ofili (NGA) 15.85 (2025)

Quick facts Athletics, World records ...

Athletics 150 metres
World records
Men	Usain Bolt (JAM) 14.35 (2009)
Women	Favour Ofili (NGA) 15.85 (2025)

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The event was given a high-profile outing in 1997 as an intermediate contest between two 1996 Olympic champions: Donovan Bailey (100 metres) and Michael Johnson (200 metres).^[1] Johnson pulled up mid-race, allowing Bailey to win the $1 million prize.^[2] This race coincided with a period of similar 150 m meetings between Bailey and the 1992 Olympic 100 m champion Linford Christie; the pair raced over three years for high cash prizes in Sheffield, England, in 1995, 1996 and 1997, with Christie winning the first two outings and Bailey winning the last.^[3][4]

The Manchester City Games in England – a competition featuring a long, raised track on one of the city's major streets – has provided many of the event's highlights since 2009, including the men's world best of 14.35 seconds, set by Usain Bolt in 2009.^[5] Allyson Felix ran the fastest ever female 150 m race in 2013 (16.36 seconds),^[6] although faster times have been recorded at intermediate stages of the 200 m event. The Great North City Games (held variously in Newcastle and Gateshead) feature a similar set-up to the Manchester event and have hosted several of the best men's and women's times.^[7] The British events typically attract American, British and Caribbean competitors, and athletes from these places account for nearly all the top 25 best times for men and women. A one-off 150 m race on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro was held in 2013 and Bolt finished in a time close to his own world best.^[8]

The 150 m had some significance as a regular indoor event in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of indoor tracks matching that distance. Wales held a national championship over the distance up to 1972, and Finland briefly had a women's national championship in the mid-1960s.^[8][9] A relay version of the distance (4 × 150 metres) was contested at the 1967 European Athletics Indoor Championships and was won by the Soviet Union's women's team.^[10] The distance attracted the attention of 1980 Olympic 200 m champion Pietro Mennea, whose hand-timed run of 14.8 seconds in Cassino, Italy, in 1983 stood as a world-best time for over a quarter of a century.^[11] Italy also provided a women's 150 m best that same decade, with Jamaican Merlene Ottey setting a time of 16.46 seconds in Trapani in 1989 – a world-best mark which was unbeaten for over two decades.^[12]