15 (Possibly) unbreakable sports records

[The CDR-Ret]

Yeah, Mike Powell’s long-jump record will stand longer than Bolt’s 100. The closest non-wind-aided jump other than his was Bob Beamon’s in 1968.

Bob Beamon's was at 6000+ feet above sea level in Mexico City. Need some supplemental O2 therapy, amazing talent, and training in New Mexico (similar elevation in Albuquerque)...

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Twins. It was really Ted Williams who did the commercials for Mr Coffee and the Bowery Bank. And if you remember those commercials you are older than dirt

Well, I was born around the time dirt was discovered in Iowa...

 

[The CDR-Ret]

How about Cheshire High Schools girls 281 straight swim dual meet victories over 25 year span?

or Carmel H.S., IN girls just won their 39th straight State Championship in Feb, 2025 (current streak) which probably be broken next year by them as well. They just scored 448 points... so wherever they get beat, it will probably be unbreakable.

 

[AidanFan20]

or Carmel H.S., IN girls just won their 39th straight State Championship in Feb, 2025 (current streak) which probably be broken next year by them as well. They just scored 448 points... so wherever they get beat, it will probably be unbreakable.

MaxPreps has that state-title streak of theirs as the 2nd-longest all-time. Jackson Prep in Mississippi won 45 straight state titles in boys/girls combined swimming from 1974-2018.

High school sports programs with the most consecutive state championships

MaxPreps News - Five programs actively working on title streaks of more than 34 years.

www.maxpreps.com

 

[AidanFan20]

Semi-off-topic since this is a record of consistent strong performance but no championships, But Linfield College, now a D3 college in Oregon, hasn't had a sub-.500 season in football since 1956. Most of those years have been well above .500, winning almost 82% of their games in total.

They've made a number of deep runs in the playoffs, but no cigar. They've been in the national playoffs for their division 33 times in those 65 years without a title. One of these days...

 

[nwhoopfan]

Semi-off-topic since this is a record of consistent strong performance but no championships, But Linfield College, now a D3 college in Oregon, hasn't had a sub-.500 season in football since 1956. Most of those years have been well above .500, winning almost 82% of their games in total.

They've made a number of deep runs in the playoffs, but no cigar. They've been in the national playoffs for their division 33 times in those 65 years without a title. One of these days...

This didn't quite sound right to me, I was sure they had won Championships. According to google they did in '82, '84 and '86 when they were in NAIA and in 2004 in NCAA D3.

I actually went to a game there once. Happened to be staying nearby temporarily and it was football season, so I figured I should do it while I had the chance.

 

[Gurleyman]

The craziest thing to me about the 111 is that it of course ended with that overtime loss to Mississippi State. And it started after an overtime loss to Stanford (following a 40-0 season).

UConn actually went 208 games in a row without losing in regulation - which began with a Skylar Diggins loss in the 2013 Big East finals until a loss at Baylor on Jan. 3, 2019

 

[HuskyNan]

Here’s another

 

[Bigboote]

Rather than Bolt’s 100m record, they should have posted the women’s record. FloJo set the current record, 10.49, in 1988. It was a full quarter of a second better than the record that Evelyn Ashford set four years earlier. Evidently there’s some controversy whether it was wind-aided.

 

[Bigboote]

Here’s another

I’ve never heard of this. I’d always seen it as 565 feet.

 

[DemonDeac22]

And, IIRC, 705 complete games. (Oops! it’s 749. And I call myself a quant.)

If someone today averaged 20 wins every season for 25 straight years they would still fall short of 511 wins. How many pitchers in the last 25 years have had two or more 20 win seasons in their career?

 

[DataNerd]

What's missing here is our meta-record: the team with the most unbreakable records.

 

[Dogdude]

I'll throw in Eddy Merckx's 525 pro cycling wins.

 

[EdSaid]

I can't believe no one mentioned Stewie and four MOP's.

You have to stop and think about how difficult that was/is. IceKareem (Lew Alcindor wasn't allowed to play as a freshman) won three and a handful of men and women have won two.
Getting to a final four is difficult. Winning the National championship is more difficult. Winning the Most Outstanding Player is Through the roof.

For the record I think Sarah Strong should have won it this year (Nothing against Azzi, she was also deserving).

 

[bballnut90]

-Lebron's 8 straight final appearances (as the leading scorer on every team too).

-Lebron's career playoff points (8,267 and counting), 2nd place is at 5,987.

-Caitlin Clark's points generated in college. I'm not sure if anyone has calculated how many points her assists created, but likely she's around 6500 point scored or assisted on, which puts her around 1500ish points ahead of 2nd place (Sabrina Ionescu)

-Misty May/Kerri Walsh winning 21 consecutive Olympic matches together and at one point had a 112 match win streak. Kerri Walsh I believe had 26 consecutive wins at the Olympics across 4 events.

-USA women's basketball winning 8 straight gold medals over 28 years

-I don't know any crazy Simone Biles numbers, but she's surely on this list somewhere.

-Penn State volleyball in 2008 went 114-2 in sets won, and had 111 consecutive sets won across 2 seasons. They also had 111 consecutive matches won from 2007-2010 and won the championship all 4 years.

-Courtney Paris's 2034 career rebounds in college. She's about 200 ahead of 2nd place.

-John Stockton 3265 career steals, he's 500+ ahead of Chris Paul who is in 2nd place at 39 years of age.

-Oksana Chusovitina competing as an Olympic gymnast in 8 separate Olympic games until she was 46 years old. Most gymnasts retire in their early 20s.

-Diana Taurasi winning 6 gold medals in women's basketball

 

[Scoe]

Mariano Rivera’s 652 career saves, 0.70 era in the playoffs and had 44 saves at age 43 with a 2.11 era, no closer is eclipsing any other those accolades.

 

[Wasn’t me]

Just think how much his point total would be if he played 4 years like players can but nobody does today. Different era.

Sorry if these records were already mentioned.

Pete Maravich of LSU holds the all-time NCAA Division I records for career scoring (3,667) and average (44.2). [3][4][5] His three consecutive scoring titles from 1968 to 1970 are also the three highest single-season averages in NCAA history. [3] Nine players have earned multiple scoring titles.

 

[David54]

I think the mantle homerun in Chicago was where the ball was found. In other words wasn’t hit that distance on a fly but rather where it stopped rolling.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

How about Edwin Moses 7 years undefeated in the 400 m intermediate hurdles including worlds and Olympics...

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Michael Johnson's double double gold medals in Olympics 100 m and 200 m in consecutive Olympics.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Just think how much his point total would be if he played 4 years like players can but nobody does today. Different era.

Sorry if these records were already mentioned.

Pete Maravich of LSU holds the all-time NCAA Division I records for career scoring (3,667) and average (44.2). [3][4][5] His three consecutive scoring titles from 1968 to 1970 are also the three highest single-season averages in NCAA history. [3] Nine players have earned multiple scoring titles.

Caitlyn Clark (3951 pts) passed the career mark, but Pete played in the era of Freshmen didn't play (same as Kareem), so his 3667 pts was done in 83 games, whereas Caitlyn's record was done in 139 games.

Pete's 44.2 ppg is just ridiculous (Caitlyn's was 28.4 ppg).

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Just like Pete Maravich being a 3-time All-American 1st teamer @ LSU, the age old question was why wasn't John Wooden more than a 3-time First team All-American Point Guard at Purdue U.? Answer: Freshmen were not allowed to play college basketball.

 

[Wasn’t me]

Caitlyn Clark (3951 pts) passed the career mark, but Pete played in the era of Freshmen didn't play (same as Kareem), so his 3667 pts was done in 83 games, whereas Caitlyn's record was done in 139 games.

Pete's 44.2 ppg is just ridiculous (Caitlyn's was 28.4 ppg).

Plus there were no 3 pt baskets when Maravich played. Clark made a lot of 3pt baskets which made a difference in her career point total.

"The amazing thing about Pete is 44 points per game, in his career, for three straight years in an era with no three-point line. Dale Brown, who coached LSU after Press and Pete were there, went back and charted all the games with the running score – Maravich free-throw, Maravich 22-foot jumper, Maravich layup – and he calculated that with the current college 3-point line rule at 19'9" Pete Maravich would have averaged 13 three-point makes per game, which would have given him a career average of 57 points per game under today's rules!"

 

[Bigboote]

Michael Johnson's double double gold medals in Olympics 100 m and 200 m in consecutive Olympics.

Bolt did it in three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, 2016).

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Bolt did it in three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, 2016).

Must of been too fast for me to remember, or I just keep "track" of the U.S. competitors...

Thanks for the correction.