Men's 100 metres world record progression

Starting on January 1, 1977, the IAAF has required fully automatic timing to the hundredth of a second for these events.

[2] Jim Hines' October 1968 Olympic gold medal run was the fastest recorded fully electronic 100 metre race up to that date, at 9.95 seconds.

[2] Track and Field News has compiled an unofficial list of automatically timed records starting with the 1964 Olympics and Bob Hayes' gold medal performance there.

The IAAF considers marks set at high altitude as acceptable for record consideration.

[13] One estimate suggests times in the 200 m sprint can be assisted by between 0.09s and 0.14s with the maximum allowable tailing wind of 2.0 m/s, and gain 0.3s at altitudes over 2000m.

IAAF-ratified world record progression for the men's 100 m. In 1977 the IAAF began requiring fully automatic timing, accounting for both the increase in measured times and the decrease in measurement uncertainty.