55 metres

55 metres is a sprint event in track and field. It is a relatively uncommon non-championship event for indoor track and field. The history of the event lies in the 60-yard dash, which is about 5 inches shorter than 55 metres. Since the 1960s almost all countries have used metric measurements for track and field, hence the standard sprint distances for indoor competition have been 50 metres and 60 metres.

The single exception to this was the United States, which continued to use imperial measurements. In the 1980s efforts were made to switch track and field in the United States to use metric measurements and the 55 metres was adopted as a close equivalent to 60 yards. The NCAA Indoor Championships featured the event from 1984 to 1998 and the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships featured the event from 1987 to 1990. Subsequently the 55 metres were dropped from American championships in favour of the international standard of 60 metres. Since the late 1990s there have been very few significant open competitions over 55 metres and the event remains something of a historic anomaly. The distance is still frequently run in junior (below college) meets.

All-time top 25

Indoor results only. Hand-timed results are excluded

The websites of World Athletics and tilastopaja.net are often used to generate lists of top performers. However, the data in these sites is not complete before about 1998 and, as noted above, much of the championship activity in this event (and hence best performances) were before this time. Hence a better source of data is the Track and Field News website.

• A = affected by altitude

Men

• Updated February 2023

Rank	Time	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place	Ref
1	5.99 A	Obadele Thompson	Barbados	22 February 1997	Colorado Springs
2	6.00	Lee McRae	United States	14 March 1986	Oklahoma City
3	6.02 A	Leo Myles-Mills	Ghana	22 February 1997	Colorado Springs
4	6.03	Sam Graddy	United States	14 March 1986	Oklahoma City
	6.03	Carl Lewis	United States	5 February 1983	Dallas
	6.03+	Christian Coleman	United States	11 February 2023	New York City
7	6.04	André Cason	United States	9 March 1990	Indianapolis
	6.04 A	Ato Boldon	Trinidad and Tobago	1 February 1997	Flagstaff
9	6.05	Brian Cooper	United States	13 February 1988	East Rutherford
	6.05	Stanley Floyd	United States	31 January 1981	Dallas
11	6.06	Tim Harden	United States	9 March 1996	Indianapolis
		Emmit King	United States	26 February 1988	New York City
		Fred Johnson	United States	16 March 1985	Fargo
	6.06	Houston McTear	United States	24 February 1978	New York City
	6.06 A	Marcus Brunson	United States	20 February 1999	Reno
		Felix Andam	Ghana	28 February 1998	Colorado Springs
		Syan Williams	Jamaica	14 February 1998	Colorado Springs
		Keith Williams	United States	15 February 1997	Colorado Springs
19	6.07	Leonard Scott	United States	20 February 1999	Gainesville
		Ousmane Diarra	Mali	10 February 1996	Ames
		Raghib Ismail	United States	8 February 1991	West Lafayette
		Ray Stewart	Jamaica	11 March 1989	Indianapolis
		Ron Brown	United States	4 February 1984	Dallas
	6.07 A	Obadiah Cooper	United States	21 February 1998	Flagstaff
25	6.08	Marvin Bracy	United States	29 January 2012	Gainesville
		Michael Green	Jamaica	14 March 1992	Indianapolis
		Phil Epps	United States	5 March 1983	Dallas
		Rod Richardson	United States	13 March 1982	Pontiac
		James Sanford	United States	20 February 1981	San Diego
	6.08 A	Bernard Williams	United States	21 February 1998	Colorado Springs

Women

• Updated February 2023

Rank	Time	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place	Ref
1	6.55	Evelyn Ashford	United States	26 February 1982	New York City
		Jeanette Bolden	United States	21 February 1986	Los Angeles
3	6.56	Gwen Torrence	United States	14 March 1987	Oklahoma City
4	6.57	Alice Brown	United States	22 February 1985	New York City
	6.57+	Aleia Hobbs	United States	11 February 2023	New York City
6	6.58	Dawn Sowell	United States	26 February 1989	Baton Rouge
		Beatrice Utondu-Okoye	Nigeria	11 February 1990	Monroe, North Carolina
	6.58+	Tamari Davis	United States	11 February 2023	New York City
9	6.60	Chandra Cheeseborough	United States	5 February 1983	Dallas
10	6.61	Michelle Finn	United States	23 February 1990	New York City
11	6.62	Merlene Ottey	Jamaica	13 March 1982	Cedar Falls, Iowa
		Marlies Göhr	East Germany	28 February 1986	New York City
	6.62+	Marybeth Sant-Price	United States	11 February 2023	New York City
14	6.63+	Mikiah Brisco	United States	11 February 2023	New York City
15	6.64	Lyudmila Storozhkova	Soviet Union	3 March 1979	New York City
	6.64	Anelia Nuneva	Bulgaria	27 February 1987	New York City
17	6.65	Florence Griffith	United States	8 February 1985	Inglewood
		Nelli Cooman	Netherlands	30 January 1987	New York City
	6.65	Savatheda Fynes	Bahamas	8 March 1997	Indianapolis
20	6.66	Carlette Guidry	United States	10 March 1990	Indianapolis
		Michelle Freeman	Jamaica	30 January 1993	Johnson City
22	6.67	Angela Bailey	Canada	28 February 1986	New York City
	6.67+	Shawnti Jackson	United States	29 January 2022	New York City
				11 February 2023
24	6.68	Chryste Gaines	United States	14 March 1992	Indianapolis
	6.68 A	Aleisha Latimer	United States	19 January 1996	Boulder, Colorado
		Peta-Gaye Dowdie	Jamaica	6 February 1988	Colorado Springs
	6.68	Angela Williams	United States	15 March 1998	Roxberry Crossing

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