Even nearly a decade after hanging up his golden Puma spikes, the world’s fastest man ever, Usain Bolt, is still dictating the pace of track and field -- even if he would rather be pacing his living room watching his favourite football club, Manchester United.
Perhaps that’s why it wasn’t a particularly appropriate moment for World Athletics to organise a media roundtable with the Jamaican legend in a VIP sky box of the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, just as the early-season Manchester Premiership derby between United and City was kicking off.
“Thank you Usain for your time…” began Maphuti Hlako, Communications Manager at World Athletics, attempting to lead the Jamaican legend into the evening media roundtable.
“Very important time,” Bolt, who turned 40 on August 21, interrupted with a massive grin, his manager Ricky Simms holding an iPad streaming the buildup to the derby. “United is playing right now… it’s very important time for me.”
Sprints legend Usain Bolt with Maphuti Hlako, Communications Manager at World Athletics, during a media conference in Budapest on September 13, 2026.
Photo credit: Elias Makori
By coincidence, the Polokwane-raised Hlako is also a die-hard United fan whose original dream was to work in the communications department at Old Trafford before World Athletics came calling.
But on this afternoon, at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships at Budapest's National Stadium, she had to play defense against the world's fastest man, who was itching to consult the iPad for updates on Michael Carrick’s “Red Devils.”
Yet, as the sprint icon quickly discovered, you can outrun the entire planet, but you cannot outrun your own star power. Despite being retired for nine years, Bolt remains the magnetic centre of gravity for the sports world.
Serving as the special ambassador for the Ultimate Championship, track and field's brand-new, ultra-lucrative flagship event -- which officially debuted from September 11–13 in the Hungarian capital -- the legend proved he is still the ultimate crowd-pleaser.
Between checking score updates, Bolt opened up about his life away from the fast lane, his thoughts about developments in the sport, and upcoming travel plans to Africa with fiancée, Kasi Bennett, a Jamaican marketing director and model, with whom the legend has three children -- six-year-old daughter Olympia Lightning and five-year-old twins Thunder and Saint Leo.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe had confessed that he had to try and get a role that would keep Bolt hooked onto track and field.
“I sort of feel like Usain is back in our sport again…,” Coe said, gleefully.
The Ultimate Championship is the latest kid on the block as World Athletics continues its journey of innovation. The championship featured unique, high-visibility athlete presentations, starting with a pre-competition catwalk where athletes showcased their favourite leisure wear.
During the competition itself, the spotlight remained firmly on the athletes through maximum-visibility staging, energetic young presenters, and trendy music -- including a live hit song performed by Olympic pole vault champion Armand "Mondo" Duplantis.
It’s the sort of energy that Bolt, the ultimate showman, would have reveled in at his prime. While stepping out of the limelight hasn’t been easy for him, “Lightning Bolt,” loves just hanging out with the latest stars and reflecting on his days on the track. He would certainly have loved to turn back the clock and race at the Ultimate Championship, an instant hit with huge financial rewards where individual winners pocketed $150,000 (Sh22.5 million).
“I’m excited to be here. It’s great to see track and field take a different direction to something more exciting. I was happy when Seb (Coe) called me and explained to me ‘this is what we are doing’ and it was a no-brainer to me to be a part of it,” Bolt reacted to his invitation to be Ambassador of the Ultimate Championship.
“I always lived to compete against the best and so I would thrive in this moment. I’m sad it’s happening now (after retirement) but I’m here to enjoy it, to promote it and just to let the world know that track and field is here to stay – I’m happy to be part of this.”
Back in the day, Bolt was hugely popular for his celebratory stance - "To Di World" or "Lightning Bolt" – which involves leaning back and pointing both arms like an arrow toward the sky.
He set astonishing world records at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin (9.58 seconds in the 100 metres and 19.19 seconds in the 200 metres).
Usain Bolt speaks during a press conference ahead of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on September 10, 2026.
Photo credit: Courtesy of World Athletics
Furthermore, his dominance is underscored by his eight Olympic gold medals, which include three consecutive Olympic titles in both the 100m and 200m sprints across the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Games, alongside a 4x100m relay world record of 36.84 seconds set in London 2012.
“Lightning Bolt” looks back at these moments with a great sense of pride. No man has run faster than Bolt and they had to engage robots at a recent World Humanoid Robot Games in China to improve on the Jamaican’s 100m human mark.
Multiple Chinese-engineered machines shattered the record with, interestingly, “Lightning”, a 169cm-tall humanoid, clocking an incredible 9.32 seconds in a preparatory test run, reaching a blistering peak speed of 14.5 metres per second.
Bolt’s reaction? “It’s just one of those things… I guess that’s where the world is going.. It just made me smile…”
The conversation inevitably drifted toward his own legacy. As the fastest man to ever live, Bolt feels he has long achieved his ultimate dream.
“My goal was always to be among the greats in sport, that when the conversation is being talked about Muhammad Ali, Michael Johnson, and all these greats in different sports, I’m mentioned in that sentence. So, for me, over the years since I’ve been retired, I’ve seen what I wanted and I’m happy to see that I’m in the conversation (of greats).”
Part of keeping that legacy alive meant giving back to the island that raised him. Through his foundation, Bolt had recently injected 10 million Jamaican dollars (Sh8.2 million) into local schools heavily damaged by recent storms.
“Right now, my foundation is mainly focused on relief,” he explained. “Lately, we have given 10 million dollars to the schools to develop because most of them have been really damaged, so we try to spread as much around the country to get our schools up and going because it is bad now and a lot of kids are still not in school. The government cannot do everything so we try to do as much as possible.”
Since his departure from the track at the 2017 World Championships in London, there has never really been an undisputed “fastest man on earth” with the title shifting between Italian Lamont Marcel Jacobs, Americans Noah Lyles, Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley and Jamaican Oblique Seville who have shared post-Bolt World and Olympic titles between them.
Bolt loves such intense rivalry. “Competition is always good. It’s fun. For me, it was great at the time because I won. I always strive for competition and to see different people winning makes it more exciting – it’s good for the sport.”
Responding to ‘Nation Sport’ on an upcoming trip to Nairobi to reunite with “Lightning Bolt” - the cheetah he famously adopted at Nairobi National Park nearly 17 years ago - Bolt enthusiastically confirmed travel arrangements are actively in the works, and that Africa sits firmly at the top of his travel bucket list, especially since his fiancée, Kasi Bennett, who he recently formally engaged, is an avid traveller.
“It has been a while (since Kenya visit). I’ve been making plans… I’ve been telling my fiancé -- I can’t call her my girlfriend any more, I’m still getting used to it -- that we need to do different countries,” Bolt shared warmly, noting that they are currently mapping out the perfect itinerary to ensure Kenya is one of their primary stops.
And as the countdown to his return to Africa begins, with Nairobi having won the rights to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships, Kenyans eagerly anticipate the iconic champion’s trek back for far more than a simple vacation, but a profound homecoming and a deeply personal reunion with a wild symbol of his own unprecedented speed, “Lightning Bolt”, the cheetah.
