http://im.rediff.com/sports/2008/jul/22sld1.jpg

For sure.. Tyson Gay could not outrun a Horse, a Dog, a Lion or a Cheetah, all of them faster than man at the 100 meters mark. Perhaps he could go faster than a Cat in the long run and this because his small size. In the short run below the 100 meter, he could be more explosive than the Horse.

When animals want to run faster, they increase either their stride rate or stride length. A stride is a complete movement from the point of one foot striking the ground, leaving it, then striking the ground again. Stride length is the distance traveled in one stride.

A horse has a maximum stride length of about seven meters, a stride rate of about 2.25 strides/second and a top speed of about 70 km/hr. A cheetah, which is much smaller than a horse, has a stride length that is about the same as that of the horse; but the cheetah has a stride rate of about 3.5 strides/second and a top speed of about 110 km/hr.

If we go by the 40-yd measure of quickness/speed, a human may outrun the horse. But over 100m, there's no way a human can outrun a horse. In 1973, Secretariat (famous racetrack horse) averaged 37.5 miles/hr over a mile and a half. World record holder Asafa Powell averaged 22.9 miles/hr in the 100 meter dash.

According to "www.telegraph.co.uk":
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Humans could still run below 9.5 seconds over 100 metres while dogs and horses are running as fast as they ever will, according to a scientific study.

Professor Denny predicted that male 100m sprinters could one day get the record down to 9.48s and while female sprinters' speeds have tended to level off, they too could shave seconds off their times to cover the distance in 10.19s. Professor Denny looked at records for dogs and racing horses too, but found that both have already reached a plateau.

There has been no improvement in the thoroughbreds' speed in the Kentucky Derby since the 1940s and two other major US races since the 1970s, while dogs'
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Source(s):
http://www.pbs.org/safarchive/4_class/45_pguides/pguide_704/4574_speed.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3532331/Humans-could-run-10...

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