Robots compete in the 100m race during the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. Achmad Ibrahim

A humanoid robot has beaten Usain Bolt's 100-meter sprint record at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, China on Saturday.

The robot, made by Beijing-based X-Humanoid, was able to run the 109 yards in 9.39 seconds, beating the 2009 record of 9.58 seconds set by the Jamaican athlete.

At the end of the 100-meter dash, the robots slammed into a cushion and fell to the ground in order to stop, footage from the event showed, before being carried out in stretchers.

A separate robot made by the same company was able to beat the human record in the standing high jump. The humanoid reached 2.88 meters, surpassing the 2.45 meters set by Cuba's Javier Sotomayor in 1993.

Other robots were not so successful, with some tripping, falling and smashing into pieces during competitions or even catching fire.

Both records were set on the opening day of the Olympics-like event which sees more than 2,000 humanoid robots participating, according to the organizers. The event is in its second year and aims to demonstrate China's rapid progress in the development of advanced robotics, with competitions in sports such as running, table tennis and soccer.

At Saturday's opening of the robot games, the organizer and robot makers said that Chinese humanoid robots defeated human world records, as hundreds of humanoid robots marched in formation onto the field in a massive display of synchronized coordination.

Last month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots. The FCC cited national security reasons in a move that targeted China. The Pentagon recently also added Unitree, one of China's leading humanoid robot makers, to its list of companies that it deemed have ties with the Chinese military. Beijing has hit back at the accusations.

China currently leads in the production of humanoid robots, with some manufacturers there saying they have thousands of orders from both government and private businesses. However, some experts say this technology is still mostly used for demonstrations and performances and will take some time to achieve mass real-world deployment.


Spectator looking robots perform during the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. Achmad Ibrahim

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