Although Cristiano Ronaldo’s athleticism has always been praised, he faced a professional Spanish sprinter when he was at the top of his game.

Cristiano Ronaldo has received a lot of praise during his career for being one of the best football players.

The concept has always been that a player with all the physical attributes required to compete at the highest level would resemble a legend from Manchester United or Real Madrid if they were created in a lab. Over the course of his career, Ronaldo transformed from a winger to a striker.

But after setting a record-breaking transfer to Los Blancos in 2011, Ronaldo was put through a Sky Sports series dubbed “Tested to the Limit.” He was 26 years old at the time, and physically, he was at the height of his abilities.

He was paired with Angel David Rodriguez, the quickest sprinter in Spain at the time, in an attempt to accurately measure his speed. He was trained to run 100 meters in a sprint, but Ronaldo’s speed was mostly focused on becoming an excellent football player.

That distinction turned out to be significant. Rodriguez ran the first 25 meters in 3.31 seconds, while the other participant finished first. Ronaldo trailed behind in 3.61 seconds for the same distance. The sprinter from Spain stated: “I took three tenths from him [Ronaldo], which is quite a lot. If it was 100 metres, he may be able to get 11.60 [seconds].”

Should that forecast come to pass, Ronaldo would be two seconds slower than Usain Bolt’s world record time of 9.58 seconds, even at maximum acceleration. The Portuguese player’s time is not impressive even when compared to other football players; Theo Walcott once said that he could complete a 100-meter sprint in 10.3 seconds.

The former Arsenal player, who was only 14 years old, ran a 100-meter dash in 11.58 seconds in 2004 while attending Downs School in Compton, Berkshire. This speed is around what Rodriguez estimated Ronaldo might achieve as a professional.

Florence Griffith-Joyner established a record in 1988 when she raced the quickest 100 meters in 10.49 seconds. Elaine Thompson-Herah, a Jamaican, set a record in 2021 with a timing of 10.54 seconds, the fastest attempt this century.

Even though they cover distance fast, football players are not coached with the same technique as track athletes. A player almost never runs at full speed in a straight path throughout a game; instead, they usually sprint in brief spurts that often need direction changes. The foundation of excellent technique for sprinters is a high knee motion and much longer strides.

This was made clear when Ronaldo and Rodriguez competed in a second 25-meter race in the same series, but this time they ran a zigzag course that required them to change directions many times. Rodriguez finished in 6.86 seconds, while Ronaldo took 6.35.