OMG: Top 10 undefeated world record holders in athletics

Top 10 undefeated world record holders in athletics

by theblindpimp · 5 hours ago

10. Kevin Young (United States) - 400 m hurdles - 46.78 s (1992)

It is well noted that Kevin Young throughout the 1992 season, prior to Barcelona Summer Olympics, placed small pieces of paper with the numbers 46.89 in each running spike. He had mentally convinced himself that running under 47 seconds was possible. Kevin won gold at the 400 metres hurdles at the Barcelona Olympics. In the final of this event he set the World and Olympic Record of 46.78 seconds. It remains undefeated. He became the 400 m hurdles world champion the following year, winning at the 1993 World Championships in Athletics with a time of 47.18 seconds. https://youtu.be/L7-1X0Nk4zk

9. Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) - Middle-distance running (1997, 1998, 1999)

Hicham El Guerrouj, a.k.a "King of the Mile", is consider to be the greatest middle distance runner of all time. He is the current holder of the 1500 metres (indoor and outdoor), mile (indoor and outdoor) and 2000 metres (outdoor) world records, as well as a double Olympic gold medalist. El Guerrouj is also the only middle distance runner to win four consecutive world titles in 1997, 1999, 2001, and 2003 Indoor WR 1500 m, time: 3:31.18 (1997) Mile, time: 3:48.45 (1997) Outdoor WR 1500 m, time: 3:26.00 (1998) Mile, time 3:43.13 (1999) 2000 m, time: 4:44.79 (1999) https://youtu.be/XvCsj7eJKKA

8. Jan Zelezny (Czech Republic) - Javelin - 98.48 m / 323 ft 1 in (1996)

Jan Zelezny won the gold at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics as well as three World Championship titles in 1993, 1995 and 2001. He holds the top five javelin performances of all time and because of his achievements he is widely considered to be the all time greatest javelin thrower. https://youtu.be/pgUtL9cEVIE

7. Randy Barnes (United States) - Shot put - 23.12 m / 75 ft 10.5 in (1990)

Eric Randolph "Randy" Barnes is an American former shot putter who holds both the current outdoor and indoor WR for the event. As of 2015, both of Barnes's records still stand and only one thrower has been within 60 cm (2 feet) of the outdoor record in the last 10 years. https://youtu.be/qPZwXF1Xcpw

6. Michael Johnson (United States) - 400 m - 43.18 s (1999)

Michael Johnson is the only male athlete in history to win both the 200 meter dash and 400 meter dash events at the same Olympics (1996 in Atlanta). He holds 14 of the top 25 times for the 400 meters and he broke 44 seconds for the 400 metres twenty-two times. More than twice as many times as any other athlete. Johnson was plagued by injury in 1999, and his following season was troubled with two injury scares that limited him to just four 400 m races before the 1999 World Championships in Seville. He recovered and won his fourth 400 meter world title with a new world record time of 43.18 seconds, which still remains unbeaten. https://youtu.be/udlrRIYBUsw

5. Yuriy Sedykh (Soviet Union) - Hammer throw - 86.74 m / 284 ft 6.75 in (1986)

Yuriy Sedykh (Ukrainian) set the current world record of 86.74 m at the 1986 European championships in Stuttgart. The previous WR was 86.66 m set on June 22 the same year by no other than Sedykh himself. Only two men have thrown over 86 meters in the history of the sport; Yuriy Sedykh & Sergey Litvinov from Russia. (Ivan Tsikhan's 86.73m throw in 2005 was annulled by the IAAF in April 2014 due to doping sanctions). https://youtu.be/4qAE2PrCVhY

4. Jonathan Edwards (United Kingdom) - Triple jump - 18.29 m / 60 ft 0.25 in (1995)

In his breakthrough year of 1995, Edwards produced a jump of 18.43 m (60 feet 5 1⁄2 inches) at the European Cup. The leap was wind assisted and did not count for record purposes, but it was a sign of things to come as he capped an unbeaten year with a historic gold medal performance at the Gothenburg World Championships, in which he broke the world record twice in the same meeting. And his WR record has remained unbeaten ever since. https://youtu.be/6OLDzu5TmNc

3. Mike Powell (United States) - Long jump - 8.95 m / 29 ft 4.25 in (1991)

At the 1991 World Championships in Athletics (Tokyo), Powell broke Bob Beamon's almost 23-year-old long jump world record by 5 cm (2 inches), leaping 8.95 m (29 ft 4,25 in). The world record still stands, making Powell the fourth person since 1900 to hold the record for over 20 years. He also holds the longest non-legal jump of 8.99 m (29 ft 5,75 in) (wind-aided +4.4) set at high altitude in Sestriere, Italy in 1992. https://youtu.be/zuqNxHmtBD8

2. Jurgen Schult (East Germany) - Discus throw - 74.08 m / 243.0 ft (1986)

Jürgen Schult bested the previous record of Soviet athlete, Yuriy Dumchev, by 2.22 meters (7.3 ft). This discus world record still stands today and is the longest-standing mens world record ever (having surpassed the length of Jesse Owens long jump record, which stood for 25 years and 79 days) https://youtu.be/MPjWakLYI5g

1. Javier Sotomayor (Cuba) - High jump - 2.45 m / 8 ft 0.4 in (1993)

Sotomayor is regarded as the best high jumper of all time. He is the only person ever to have cleared eight feet. Sotomayor increased the WR three times; 2.43 metres (7 ft 11,75 in) from 1988, 2.44 meters (8 feet) in 1989 and the current WR 2.45 from 1993. The 1993 WR, set at the Salamanca Invitational track meet, was remarkable in that Sotomayor required only four jumps: he took his first jump at 2.32 metres (7 ft 7.34 in), passed at 2.35, cleared 2.38 metres (7 ft 9.70 in) on his first attempt, then had the bar raised to a record height of 2.45, which he missed on his first attempt and then succeeded on his second attempt, lightly brushing the bar. Sotomayor also has the current world indoor record from 1989, clearing 2.43 (7 ft 11.67 in) on his first attempt (and fifth jump overall). https://youtu.be/7n6NhV4CaiU

Premise for my selection: 1) Only WR ratified by the IAAF. 2) WR remains undefeated to date. 3) Men only (There will be a part two with women) Making this list, I have taken the following into account; how many years the WR holder has remained undefeated, competition within the sport, popularity of the sport, probability of record being broken in near future as well as other circumstances relating to the event when the record was broken.