Yarmila Kratokhvilova - 800 meters
Of all the world records in athletics, the greatest achievement is the achievement of the Czechoslovak runner Yarmila Kratokhvilova. On July 26, 1983, she ran 800 meters in 1: 53.28. This time has not been broken so far, which makes the athlete’s record the longest in history.
Kratokhvilova revealed quite late as an athlete. At first, she specialized in running 400 meters, and only at age 27 she managed to run out of 53 seconds - in our time, this is not a problem even for hurdlers. After that, the Czech Republic began to progress rapidly and approached the results of the invincible runner from East Germany Marite Koch. The crown of their rivalry was the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, in which the German won, and Kratokhvilova won silver.
Soon, an athlete from Czechoslovakia mastered the distance twice as long, although by then she was already the fourth dozen. Kratokhvilova’s results in 800 meters running have also become phenomenal. Before the 1983 World Cup, she performed at a small tournament in Munich and created a sensation. The stopwatch showed that she ran two laps in 1: 53.28 - 0.15 seconds faster than the previous world record of Nadezhda Olizarenko. At that time, Kratokhvilova was 32 years old.
At the World Championships in Helsinki, Kratokhvilova not only won 800 meters, but also broke the Koch record at 400 meters. The Czech runner overcame the distance in 47.99 seconds in the final. The German woman soon managed to run even faster, but Kratokhvilova’s achievement at the 800-meter distance was still not beaten, although almost 37 years have passed since then. The best attempt for this time was Pamelo Gelimo - in 2008 she ran for 1: 54.01, using the help of pacemakers, which Kratokhvilova could not have dreamed about at one time.
After setting two world records, the Czech runner was no longer so fast. The following year, Kratokhvilova ended the season ahead of schedule due to the boycott of the Olympics in Los Angeles, after which she began to pursue injuries.
Marita Koch - 400 meters
If Kratokhvilova remained unsurpassed at the 800-meter mark, then at a distance half as long, Marita Koch still managed to regain the world record after two years. Her run in 47.60 seconds remains the second among the oldest achievements in the Olympic track and field athletics disciplines.
Unlike Kratokhvilova, Koch became known in sport quite early. Already at the age of 21, she claimed at least the Olympic medal in 1976, but due to an injury she could not reach the finals in 400 meters. Two years later, the German woman began to break world records one after another, and not only at her crown distance. Koch improved the time on the 200-meter four times, having spent a total of eight years as a record holder. It was she who was the first to trade 22 seconds in this type of program.
But much more impressive were the results of Koch in the 400-meter races. It is enough to say that before her, the world record of Polish girl Irena Shevinsky was “only” 49.29 seconds. The German seven times improved the highest achievement and with a two-year break continues to own it since 1978.
Koch set her last world record on October 6, 1985 in Canberra. Besides the fact that the German woman herself was in great shape, additional factors helped her to improve Kratokhvilova's seconds. The stadium was located at an altitude of more than 600 meters, and Koch had to start from the second track and in the company of strong rivals, which could be successfully dispersed. The athlete stopped the stopwatch at around 47.60 seconds, and since then the athletes are still trying to at least change the 48-second barrier. Closest over the past 35 years to Koch was the representative of Bahrain, Salva Aid Nasser, who won the last World Cup with a score of 48.14 seconds.
Jürgen Schult - discus throw
The oldest world record for men belongs to the disco ball from the GDR, Jürgen Schult. He entered the history of athletics on June 6, 1986, when he threw a projectile at an incredible distance of 74.08 meters.
Until this day, Schult was a promising, but not yet won, big athlete. In 1983, he became fifth at the World Cup and missed the Los Angeles Olympics due to a boycott. Schult came up to the summer season of 1986 with a personal record of 69.74 meters - already a pretty good result, with which you can claim a lot.
The 26-year-old athlete hoped to successfully perform at the main start of the season - the European Championship, and for this it was necessary to pass the national selection in Neubrandenburg on June 6. During the competition, a gusty wind blew, which could both help make a successful attempt and completely ruin it. Schulte was lucky - during one of the attempts, the disk flew so far that silence hung over the stadium. The surprised judges had to confer for a while, after which the announcer announced a new world record. The Schult by as much as 2.22 meters exceeded the previous achievement of the Soviet athlete Yuri Dumchev.
Interestingly, an athlete from the GDR did not immediately reinforce his record with loud victories in titles. At the European Championships he was only the seventh with the best attempt at 64.38 meters. But starting next year, Schult firmly entered the elite of athletics. He won the World Cup and then won gold at the Olympics. Since then, he has won more than one medal at the most prestigious competitions, and in 1990 achieved the title of European champion.
Shortly before the 2000 Olympics, which were the last for Schult, his world record experienced the most serious threat. Lithuanian Virgilius Alekne managed to send a 73.88 meter drive. The Estonian Gerd Kanter also tried to storm the achievement of the German discus thrower, but he stopped at 73.38 meters. No one has since surpassed even Dumchev's previous record, although in 2019 the Swede Daniel Stoll managed to repeat it.
Yuri Sedykh - hammer throw
No less impressive achievement in the history of athletics remains the world record of hammer thrower Yuri Sedykh. Since June 30, 1986, to all his numerous titles, he added the title of champion, when he sent the shell to a fantastic distance of 86.74 meters.
Unlike Schult, Sedykh announced himself quite early. In 1976, he won his first victory at the Olympics, being a very young athlete - a native of Kiev was only 21 years old. Four years later, he began to storm world records. On May 16, 1980, at the competitions in Leselidze, Sedykh raised the historical bar to 80.38 meters, but Yuri Tamm improved his result immediately by eight centimeters. Sedykh still remained a champion, immediately sending a shell at 80.64 meters. Eight days later, Sergey Litvinov passed them all - he managed to throw a hammer at 81.66 meters.
The confrontation between Soviet athletes continued for many years and always took place at record heights. Sedykh won the Moscow Olympics with world achievement in his first attempt, but Litvinov managed to raise the bar to 84.14 meters over the next three years. Since then, only the Sedykh has rewritten the book of records. His hammer flew off both 86.34 meters and 86.66 meters, and at the European Championships in 1986, he already landed at 86.74 meters.
“Already then, in Stuttgart, having completed this attempt, I realized that it was close to the limit of human capabilities. That day everything came together: mood, physical fitness, ambition, competition, sector, fans and weather. Although two months earlier in Tallinn was about the same situation. I set another world record and was sure that in the next attempt I would send the hammer for 87 m. I looked at Anatoly Bondarchuk, my coach, and he gestures: we need to finish, ”Sedykh recalled his last of six world records in an interview with“ Sport- Express. "
Sedykh and Litvinov still own the 13 best results in the history of hammer throwing. No one over the past 34 years has ever been able to get close to them, although there was one exception. In 2005, the Belarusian Ivan Tikhon shocked the athletics community when, at the competitions in Grodno, he sent 86.73 meters of projectile - just one centimeter less than the Sedykh record.