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  What Are the Most Untouchable Records in Sports?

  I ran across this post on Threads the other day: “What’s the hardest record in sports history to ever break?” A sampling of the replies:

  • “Bill Russell’s 11 NBA championships including 8 in a row.”
  • “Lionel Messi scored 91 goals in the 2012 calendar year.”
  • “Cy Young 749 complete games.”
  • “Fernando Tatis (Sr) - 2 Grand Slams in the same inning. Most of the others mentioned here are highly improbable, but there’s no way anyone ever hits 3 slams in one inning.”
  • “Lionel Messi’s 8 Ballon d’or”
  • “Sir Donald Bradman’s batting average in Test cricket. His 99.94.”
  • “Russian wrestler Aleksandr Karelin. Undefeated for 13 years. 887 wins and 2 losses, both by single point.”

  Last year, The Athletic offered a list of their own, which included Wayne Gretzky’s 1,963 career assists, the furthest goal in soccer (96.01 meters), Michael Phelps’ 23 Olympic golds, and Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game.

  Poking around the internet a bit, there’s also FloJo’s 100m record, UConn women’s basketball team’s 111 wins in a row, Cal Ripken’s consecutive game streak, and Simone Biles’ 30 world championship medals.

  Any additions to the list?

  Tags: best of · lists · sports

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