Yohan Blake

Jamaican sprinter nicknamed 'The Beast', the youngest-ever 100m world champion and the second-fastest man in history over both 100m and 200m behind training partner Usain Bolt.

Born on 26 December 1989 in St. James, Jamaica, Yohan Blake took up sprinting at St Jago High School at the suggestion of a teacher who noticed his pace during cricket, his first sporting love. At 16, he ran 10.11 seconds, the fastest 100m time ever recorded by a Jamaican junior. Blake joined coach Glen Mills's training group alongside Usain Bolt and rose rapidly through the ranks. In 2011, at the World Championships in Daegu, he won the 100m title at age 21, becoming the youngest world champion in the event's history — a title handed to him after Bolt false-started in the final. At the 2012 London Olympics, Blake won silver behind Bolt in both the 100m (9.75) and 200m (19.44), the fastest Olympic times in history to finish second in each event, before combining with Bolt, Nesta Carter and Michael Frater to win 4x100m relay gold in world record time. His personal bests of 9.69 in the 100m and 19.26 in the 200m make him the joint second-fastest man ever over 100m (with Tyson Gay) and the second-fastest ever over 200m, behind only Bolt in both events. Blake battled a series of injuries through the mid-2010s but returned to win a second consecutive 4x100m relay gold with Jamaica at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He retired from professional competition in April 2026, closing a career defined by his rare status as the only sprinter to consistently push Bolt at his peak.

Explosive, powerful sprint technique

One of the greatest sprinters of the Bolt era and the closest challenger he ever faced