Predicting the 100m winning time in next olympics

Abstract

Since the inception of the modern Olympics games in 1896, Olympics games are the most celebrated sporting event across the Globe. Athletes from more than 200 countries participate in these games, showcasing their skills and culture and bringing people together in the celebration of sports. Of all the sporting events, the 100m race is the most popular one, during which billions of people across the Globe hold their breath for 10 seconds to see the fastest man on earth in action. Ever since the renewed Olympic games, the world records for most track events have been consistently improving. The rates of improvement also vary widely among different sports and among men and women, with women having a much faster rate for improvement in the recent past (Giuseppe Lippi, 2008). These trends have been attributed to many underlying reasons like economic advancement, improvements and technological advancements in sporting equipment, and the physiological limits of the human body (Giuseppe Lippi, 2008). Further research in these trends has led to conclusions that one could expect new world records in men's shorter distance run events and women's long-distance running events (Ran Wei, 2019). Inspired by this research, we apply time series techniques to predict the most likely winning times for these sports in the upcoming Olympics.