Sporting records are intended to be beaten: A top athlete sets a new standard, and all of their current and future competitors have that milestone to aim for.
Some levels, however, are virtually impossible to overtake. The fact that the records in question have stood for a significant period of time, suggests that they may never be beaten.
The landmarks here come from a range of different sports, but each is an exceptional achievement. There are no guarantees that they will never be broken, but it’s a seriously stiff challenge for any team or individual to overtake them.
1. Basketball: Boston Celtics’ Eight Consecutive NBA Championships
One record that will likely never be broken is the Celtics’ incredible run of eight consecutive NBA Championships from 1959 to 1966. Boston also set a new mark of ten straight finals, starting with their title success in 1957.
Under coach Red Auerbach, the Celtics had some formidable players on their roster, but the NBA is far more competitive in the modern day. We’ve seen some modern “three-peats,” but surely that run of eight wins will never be matched.
2. Soccer: Lionel Messi’s 91 Goals in a Calendar Year
The list isn’t all about records that may never be broken, but their longevity suggests that it will be a challenge for anyone to overtake them. Lionel Messi’s landmark of 91 goals in a calendar year has stood since 2012, but there are some players who could beat it.
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland is a prolific striker for club and country and he’s the most likely contender. For now, Messi’s 91 strikes for Barcelona and Argentina is a remarkable feat worthy of one of the game’s best-ever players.
3. Cricket: Jim Laker’s Best Bowling Figures in a Test Match
Test cricket has produced a record that has stood unchallenged since 1956. Bowling for England against Australia in Manchester, Jim Laker returned the incredible match figures of 19/90. That’s a record for bowlers in test and first-class cricket.
The most wickets any bowler can take in a game is 20, so the feat is almost impossible to achieve. In test cricket, the next best is the 17/159 claimed by S.F. Barnes back in 1913. Laker’s figures are almost perfect, and they may never be beaten.
4. Olympics: Michael Phelps 29 Gold Medals
Sometimes you just have to look at the gap between the athlete in first place and the chasing pack to judge their achievement. Swimmer Michael Phelps landed a scarcely believable 29 gold medals in his career, and no other competitor has won more than nine.
Phelps secured his 29th gold at Rio in 2016, so his record is one of the most recent here, but it will surely remain in place for decades and beyond.
5. Usain Bolt’s 100 Metre Sprint Record
Since the shortest men’s sprint race was introduced, its fastest time was seen as a progression. These were marks to be beaten, but have we finally reached the limit in terms of human speed?
Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58 seconds was set in Berlin on August 16, 2009. It was the third time that the Jamaican had set a new mark, after first breaking Asafa Powell’s milestone in 2008. In the period between 2000 and 2009, the record changed nine times, but it’s been over 15 years since Bolt set the latest target.
6. Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 800 Metre Mark
It will be fascinating to see if Usain Bolt’s mark will be beaten, but for now, the standard for the longest-surviving athletics world record belongs to Jarmila Kratochvilova. In fact, the mark is so ancient that the country she ran for no longer exists.
Competing for Czechoslovakia at Munich in 1983, Kratochvilova completed the 800 metres in 1:53.28. More than forty years later, the record remains intact.
7. Teenager John McDermott Wins the 1911 US Open Golf Championship
The record set by John McDermott as the youngest-ever winner of the US Open isn’t unbeatable. The fact that it’s stood for over 100 years, however, suggests that it’s a serious challenge.
McDermott was just 19 when he lifted the trophy at the Chicago Golf Club. Jordan Spieth came close to the record when he won in 2015, but today’s system means that McDermott’s record may stand for all time. Today’s golfers progress through college and minor tours before they are ready for the majors.
8. Wayne Gretzky’s Career Points Record
Over in the National Hockey League, Wayne Gretzky’s record for the most points scored in a career is both historic and potentially unbeatable. It’s another case where the gap between the leader and the chasing pack suggests the milestone will forever remain intact.
When he retired in 1999, Gretzky left the ice with an astonishing 2857 points behind him. The previous record of 1921 was held by Jaromir Jagr, while the current crop of NHL players are way behind both of those levels.
9. Tiger Woods’s Number One Streak
Tiger Woods couldn’t quite catch Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 Major wins, but when he eventually retires from golf, there is one record that may never be eclipsed. At the peak of his career, Woods spent an incredible 683 weeks as the number-one ranked player in the world.
That equates to an astonishing thirteen years at the top. The closest to Tiger is Australia’s Greg Norman who was number one for 331 weeks, while the target for today’s top golfers such as Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler is a more modest 100 weeks.
10. Richard Petty Dominates Late-1960s NASCAR
In 1967, when the NASCAR circuit took in 48 races across a season, Richard Petty won a staggering 27 of them. While he fell short of total dominance, that’s still an incredible achievement in a competitive sport where accidents and mechanical failure also play a part.
In modern-day NASCAR, the schedule takes in 36 events, and the most anyone has won is ten. As a percentage, Petty won over 50% of his races in 1967, and the challenge remains for anyone to come close to those levels.
11. Wilt Chamberlain Reaches the 100-Point Barrier.
In many NBA games, a whole team doesn’t make it to the 100-point mark, so it’s incredible to think that one player hit this level all by himself. The incomparable Wilt Chamberlain set the record of exactly 100 points playing for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks.
The milestone has stood since 1962, but the fact that Kobe Bryant came close in 2006 with 81 points suggests that it’s not unbeatable.
12. Peyton Manning’s Passing Touchdowns
The great rivalry between quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tom Brady was a huge part of the NFL’s appeal for many years. Brady may have enjoyed an edge in terms of Super Bowl victories, but there was one record that eluded him.
In 2013 during his early years with the Denver Broncos, Manning set a new record for passing touchdowns with 55 completions. The closest that Brady achieved in one campaign was 50.
13. Cricket: Sachin Tendulkar’s Run Scoring Feats
In cricket, like other sports, there is much debate as to who is the greatest player of all time. In the modern era, it’s hard to argue against the great Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar, who set a number of challenging records.
When Tendulkar retired from test cricket in 2013, he had scored the most runs with 15,921, and his list of 51 centuries is also a record. One current player, England’s Joe Root, is targeting those landmarks but remains some way behind these 11-year-old records.
14. Rafael Nadal’s French Open Dominance
Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal recorded his most recent French Open singles title in 2022, but he set the overall record much earlier. The previous landmark was eight wins by Max Decugis between 1905 and 1914.
Nadal landed his ninth victory in 2014, while that 2022 success was his 14th. The surface at Roland Garros clearly suits this incredible player, but his recent retirement announcement means that he will finish on those 14 victories.