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DANIEL Sangouma, a French sprinter, last week failed in his bid to beat
a horse over 80 metres, a feat achieved in 1936 by Jesse Owens, Sangouma
stole an early lead on Jappeloup, ridden by Pierre Durand, but the horse
eventually won the event, at the Saint Cloud racetrack near Paris. Roger
Harris of the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket says that the course of the
race was fairly predictable. ‘Horses can run very much faster than humans
in the long run – a horse can reach speeds of about 19 to 21 metres per
second – while man can only achieve a maximum of about 11 metres per second.
However,’ he added, ‘people can accelerate quicker and so may have an advantage
over very short distances.’ This would appear to explain how Sangouma gained
the edge early on in the race.