World Record (The Animatrix)

"World Record" is a short animation in The Animatrix series about rare people in the Matrix who are aware that it exists. They use this to their advantage to perform supernatural things. This movie centers around a track runner sprinting the 100 meter dash. As the race starts, flashbacks — flaws in the matrix — begin to appear. The runner, Dan, is warned by his coach to cancel this race, but Dan wants to break a record no one will ever break in the future.

During the race, Dan speeds up, however his muscles become overloaded. He drops back and the agents realize that he is waking up. They try to catch him, but he speeds up, and wins the race with a winning time of 8.99 seconds, and he collapses. Meanwhile, in the real world, Dan wakes up but a machine shocks him and plugs him back into the Matrix. Days later, Dan is in a wheelchair in a coma-like state. Even though he is disabled in the Matrix, Dan gets up slowly muttering words about freedom, but he is overcome by the Matrix and falls down.

Yoshiaki Kawajiri - Director
Andy Wachowski - Screenwriter
Larry Wachowski - Screenwriter