A typical Curly-Coated Retriever tops out around 22.6 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 29.22 mph. Right in line with the typical dog (22.7 mph). The fastest Curly-Coated Retrievers outrun Usain Bolt's top speed by 1.4 mph.
Based on the best Fast CAT run of 115 Curly-Coated Retrievers, a typical Curly-Coated Retriever tops out at 22.6 mph, and half of them run faster than 23.7 mph. That makes the Curly-Coated Retriever the 82nd fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
Only 1 Curly-Coated Retriever has ever broken 30 mph, and 32 have topped 25 mph.
Among the most popular Sporting breeds, the typical Curly-Coated Retriever is faster than 1 of 8. The Vizsla is the quickest of the bunch at 24.9 mph, and the English Springer Spaniel (22.2 mph) runs closest to the Curly-Coated Retriever. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 2.2 mph gap to the Vizsla is about 0.81 seconds.
Maresante Poco Piccolo Remus holds the fastest consistent run by any Curly-Coated Retriever: 29.22 mph at the Bayshore Companion Dog Club in New Jersey on June 4, 2017. That's 100 yards in 7.00 seconds.
AKC's results also show Stoic's One Night At A Time at 33.70 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 23.32 mph. A jump that big is usually a timing or typing error, so we flag it rather than crown it.
On Dash-Hound, the fastest Curly-Coated Retriever is Blue, with a best of 24.32 mph over 30 logged runs.
Not really, but more are running. In 2022, 29 Curly-Coated Retrievers ran Fast CAT, typically at 23.1 mph. In 2025 it was 41 dogs at 22.6 mph.
Ohio has the most Curly-Coated Retriever runs, 313 of them, followed by Wisconsin, Florida, Oregon. The fastest Curly-Coated Retriever run in Ohio is 26.67 mph.
Any AKC-registered Curly-Coated Retriever over 12 months old can enter, and your dog runs alone down a straight 100 yards. Most dogs figure out the lure fast. Have someone your dog will run to waiting past the finish line, because a dog that stops to check on you can lose a second or two.
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Speeds from AKC Fast CAT results. Photographers: spotted your work? Tell us at [email protected] and we'll credit it or take it down.