Quick Take
- Bryan Habana was one of the fastest rugby players alive, yet even with a sizable head start he still couldn't close the gap.
- A cheetah's acceleration stat is genuinely hard to believe, which explains everything about why the head start meant nothing.
- The cheetah is the fastest land animal, but something else leaves it looking slow. Most people would never guess what it is.
- The race wasn't just a stunt. There was a bigger reason Habana agreed to get outrun on camera.
There are fast humans, and then there are animals built for an entirely different level of speed. In 2007, South African rugby star Bryan Habana decided to find out exactly how big that difference was by lining up for a 100-meter race against a cheetah. He even got a substantial head start. It still was not enough.
Watch the Race Below!
Rugby Star Tries to Outrun a Cheetah
This was not a case of a wild cheetah suddenly chasing an unlucky runner. The clip shows a staged race involving Bryan Habana, the former South African rugby union star, and a cheetah. The race took place in 2007 as part of a campaign intended to draw attention to cheetah conservation.
Habana was hardly a random volunteer pulled out of the crowd. He was one of the fastest players in international rugby and went on to help South Africa win the 2007 Rugby World Cup, where he was also named World Rugby Player of the Year. If any rugby player had a chance to make this interesting, he was a pretty good choice.
Cheetah Vs. Man Race
At the beginning of the video, Habana lines up well ahead of the cheetah. Contemporary accounts of the event confirm that he was given a sizable head start in the 100-meter race. Habana’s speed was already one of the defining features of his game, but even an elite human sprinter is working with very different equipment from a cheetah.
Once the race begins, Habana takes off first. The cheetah is then released to chase a moving lure pulled down the course, giving the animal something to focus on besides the man running beside it.
That is when the difference becomes obvious. Cheetahs are the fastest land mammals on Earth. Estimates vary somewhat, but they can reach roughly 60 to 70 miles per hour during short sprints. The Wildlife Conservation Society notes that even higher figures have often been cited. Whatever exact number this particular animal reached, it rapidly eats into Habana’s head start.
Habana makes it surprisingly close, but the cheetah catches him and reaches the finish first. Considering that he was competing against an animal capable of accelerating from zero to about 45 miles per hour in roughly 2.5 seconds, making a race of it at all was an accomplishment.
What Animal is Faster Than a Cheetah?
Peregrine falcons attack birds in the air.
©iStock.com/Ken Griffiths
The cheetah is the fastest animal on land, but it is not the fastest animal overall. For that, you have to look to the sky.
A peregrine falcon can exceed 200 miles per hour during its spectacular hunting dive, known as a stoop. Research indexed by the National Library of Medicine has also examined how peregrines remain remarkably maneuverable at high speeds.
Peregrines use that speed to hunt primarily other birds, including ducks, shorebirds, songbirds, and pigeons. They also prey on bats and can occasionally steal prey such as fish or rodents from other raptors. During a hunting stoop, a peregrine falcon can move at several times the top sprinting speed of even a cheetah.
So Habana did not beat the cheetah, but there is not much shame in that. One of the fastest rugby players of his generation got a huge head start against the fastest land animal on Earth, and the cheetah still reeled him in. Biology was always holding the better hand.
