60 metres is a sprint event in track and field athletics. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior athletes. The 60 metres was an Olympic event in the 1900 and 1904 Summer Games but was removed from the schedule thereafter.

Although Maurice Greene is the men's world record holder with 6.39, split times from Usain Bolt's 100 m world record at the 2009 World Athletics Championships revealed he ran the first 60 m in 6.31 seconds. However, records for the 60 m can only be set in that specific event.

In the past, it was common for athletes to compete in the 60 yards (54.86 m) race. This is not part of the lineage of the 60 metres, but is the predecessor of the 55 metres race.

Indoor results only. Updated February 2012.

Indoor results only. Updated February 2012.

¹ Ben Johnson of Canada ran 6.41 at Indianapolis, United States on 7th March 1987, but this time was rescinded after Johnson admitted to using steroids between 1981 and 1988.

Asafa Powell CD (born 23 November 1982) is a Jamaican sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres. He held the 100 m world record between June 2005 and May 2008, with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds respectively. Powell has consistently broken the 10-second barrier in competition, with his personal best of 9.72 s being the fourth fastest time in the history of the event. As of 2nd May 2012, Powell has broken the ten-second barrier legally more times than anyone else – 74 times in total.

Powell competed in the 100 m at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics but failed to convert his success to the world stage, finishing fifth both times. However, in Beijing with the Jamaican team he won a gold medal and set the world and Olympic record in the 4 × 100 metres relay. At the 2007 Osaka World Championships he won a bronze and a silver medal in the 100 m and 4 x 100 m relay respectively and he has been successful at the Commonwealth Games, winning two gold and one silver medal. At the 2009 World Championships he won 100 m bronze and a relay gold. Powell has won five times at the IAAF World Athletics Final and is the 100 m record holder for the event.