40-yard dash to mph
Average speed over a 40-yard dash in mph is 81.82 ÷ your time. A 4.50 is 18.2 mph on average. By the end of the run you are moving faster than that, about 24.8 mph on our model.
These numbers are estimates from a sprint velocity curve fitted to Usain Bolt's official Berlin 2009 splits. A 40 is timed from first movement and often by hand, so football 40s convert to optimistic 100m times. How the estimate works
- Bo Jackson 4.13 s (claimed)Jackson wins by 4.4 yd
- Usain Bolt 4.20 s (split inside his 9.58)Bolt wins by 3.5 yd
- Xavier Worthy 4.21 s (Combine record)Worthy wins by 3.4 yd
- Tyreek Hill 4.29 s (Pro Day 2016)Hill wins by 2.5 yd
The formula
40 yards is 36.576 m (120 feet). Divide by your time for meters per second, then multiply by 2.237 for mph or 3.6 for km/h. Folded together: mph = 81.82 ÷ time and km/h = 131.67 ÷ time.
That gives your average speed. You start from a standstill and keep accelerating through much of the 40, so you finish faster than the average suggests. The top-speed column estimates your speed near 40 yards from the sprint velocity curve the converter uses, which is fitted to Usain Bolt's official splits.
| 40-yard dash | Avg mph | Avg km/h | Est. top mph |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.20 | 19.5 | 31.4 | 27.3 |
| 4.30 | 19.0 | 30.6 | 26.4 |
| 4.40 | 18.6 | 29.9 | 25.6 |
| 4.50 | 18.2 | 29.3 | 24.8 |
| 4.60 | 17.8 | 28.6 | 24.1 |
| 4.70 | 17.4 | 28.0 | 23.5 |
| 4.80 | 17.0 | 27.4 | 22.8 |
| 4.90 | 16.7 | 26.9 | 22.2 |
| 5.00 | 16.4 | 26.3 | 21.6 |
| 5.10 | 16.0 | 25.8 | 21.1 |
| 5.20 | 15.7 | 25.3 | 20.6 |
| 5.30 | 15.4 | 24.8 | 20.1 |
| 5.40 | 15.2 | 24.4 | 19.6 |
| 5.50 | 14.9 | 23.9 | 19.1 |
| 5.60 | 14.6 | 23.5 | 18.7 |
| 5.70 | 14.4 | 23.1 | 18.3 |
| 5.80 | 14.1 | 22.7 | 17.9 |
| 5.90 | 13.9 | 22.3 | 17.5 |
| 6.00 | 13.6 | 21.9 | 17.2 |
Game speed vs. 40 speed
NFL tracking catches players at full flight, so game speeds run well above 40-yard averages. NFL Next Gen Stats clocked Tyreek Hill at 23.24 mph on a kickoff return in 2016, while his 4.29 Pro Day 40 averages 19.1 mph. The 100m world record holder, Usain Bolt, covered 60 to 80 m of his 9.58 at about 27.8 mph.
FAQ
More 40-yard dash pages
The Sprint University app
Add mph to your top end
The Sprint University app plans acceleration and max-velocity sessions around your 40 and adjusts them to how recovered you are each morning. It follows how Lawrence L.O. Johnson, a 6× NCAA All-American and Team USA sprinter, trains himself and his athletes.
Get Sprint UniversitySources
- Wikipedia: 40-yard dash (36.576 m; Combine hand-start/electronic-stop timing since 1999)
- Chiefs.com: “Tyreek Hill had NFL's top two fastest runs in 2016” (Next Gen Stats, 28 Jan 2017)
- DraftScout: Tyreek Hill 2016 profile (Pro Day 40: 4.29, range 4.28–4.29; 10 yd 1.50)
- SpeedEndurance.com: “Usain Bolt splits 9.69 vs 9.58” (IAAF 20 m splits, 60–80 m in 1.61 s)
- NFL.com: “Texas WR Xavier Worthy sets NFL Scouting Combine record with 4.21-second 40-yard dash” (2024)
- Helene & Yamashita, “The force, power and energy of the 100 meter sprint,” Am. J. Phys. 78, 307 (2010): Berlin 2009 10 m splits and 0.146 s reaction (IAAF data)
- Samozino et al., “A simple method for measuring power, force, velocity properties, and mechanical effectiveness in sprint running,” Scand. J. Med. Sci. Sports 26:648–658 (2016)