100m performance guesstimates from the Juno Awards red carpet

CBC Sports had some fun with some of the current stars of Canadian music on the red carpet at last weekend’s Juno Awards, with a reporter asking how fast they thought they could run 100 metres. In typically Canadian fashion, most of their answers were appropriately modest–except for host Simu Liu, who said “I’m fast. When I was 12, it was less than eight [seconds]. Eight is easy.” (Just for the record, Usain Bolt’s world record is 9.58 seconds. We realize Liu is a superhero, but we really hope he was pulling our leg.)

How fast do YOU think you could run 100m? ?

Featuring:@SimuLiu@andrewphung@thebeaches@TheRezKids@thereklaws
and more from this past weekend's @TheJUNOAwards red carpet

Soo, how fast could YOU run 100M?@CBCMusic pic.twitter.com/B7ydyaNVAI

— CBC Sports (@cbcsports) May 20, 2022

Impressively, actor and comedian Andrew Phung knew that Donovan Bailey holds the Canadian record (at 9.84, though, not 9.81), but appeared astonished to learn that the world record is 9.58. Eventually, he said “18.”

With that established, Jenna Walker of country duo The Reklaws (nominated for Group of the Year) said, “Probably, like, 20.” Hip hop artist 347aidan (nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year) confidently asserted “a random guess–17 seconds. I feel like I could hit that.” 

“Well, if I was being chased by a wild animal…” mused country singer Brett Kissel, whose record What Is Life? won Country Album of the Year, before presenting an interesting scenario: “or on the farm? Sometimes if you’re pulling a calf and a cow is chasing after you… You can run pretty fast when you’re scared.” 

The women of The Beaches (who won Rock Album of the Year for their record Sisters Not Twins, got quite into the discussion; we suspect some of them might once have been sprinters. “I think 18 seconds–that might be my top speed,” says guitarist Leandra Earl. Then drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel jumped in with, “I’m a good sprinter, but not as fast as she is–so maybe, like, 23. I don’t know. Is that good?” Later, vocalist Jordan Miller modestly quipped, “I dunno, like 30 seconds?” which got a big laugh from the others.

Lauren Spencer-Smith, who got her start on American Idol, looked knowingly at the reporter and said “13 seconds?”

Singer-songwriter Karl Wolf: 12 seconds. (“I dunno… is that fast?”)

Finally, Phung came up with a great idea: “Every Olympics needs to have the Olympians and one average person–one person, like, off the couch, just so I know. Because sometimes, the Internet’s like, ‘I could’ve done faster.’ No, you couldn’t.”