A typical Golden Retriever tops out around 23.2 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 34.66 mph. 0.5 mph faster than the typical dog (22.7 mph). The fastest Golden Retrievers outrun Usain Bolt's top speed by 6.9 mph.
Golden: same breed, same answer. Based on the best Fast CAT run of 3,699 Golden Retrievers, a typical Golden Retriever tops out at 23.2 mph, and half of them run faster than 23.7 mph. That makes the Golden Retriever the 68th fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
Only 12 Golden Retrievers have ever broken 30 mph, and 1,061 have topped 25 mph.
Among the most popular Sporting breeds, the typical Golden Retriever is faster than 3 of 8. The Vizsla is the quickest of the bunch at 24.9 mph, and the Brittany (23.2 mph) runs closest to the Golden Retriever. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 1.7 mph gap to the Vizsla is about 0.58 seconds.
Blonde Bomber holds the fastest consistent run by any Golden Retriever: 34.66 mph at the Texas Coastal Brittany Club in Texas on October 16, 2021. That's 100 yards in 5.90 seconds.
AKC's results also show Morningstar Neptunium at 36.33 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 26.17 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 Golden Retriever is Mushu, with a best of 28.81 mph over 31 logged runs.
Not really, but more are running. In 2016, 27 Golden Retrievers ran Fast CAT, typically at 22.8 mph. In 2025 it was 1,145 dogs at 23.2 mph.
Wisconsin has the most Golden Retriever runs, 5,117 of them, followed by Ohio, Virginia, Florida. The fastest Golden Retriever run in Wisconsin is 29.14 mph.
Any AKC-registered Golden 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.