Other Sports

9.58, and a world record that has now stood for seventeen years

Usain Bolt ran the 100 metres in 9.58 seconds in Berlin in August 2009, taking eleven hundredths off his own record. Nobody has been within a tenth of…

Samuel Blanck CC0

An ice hockey match at the 1980 Winter Olympics

A college team, the best side in the world, and twenty minutes at Lake Placid

The United States beat the Soviet Union 4-3 in the 1980 Olympic ice hockey tournament. It was a medal-round game, not a final, and it was not shown…

Dr. John Kelley, NOAA/NOS/COOPSPublic domain

5.2 seconds in Utah: the last shot of the second Chicago dynasty

Michael Jordan scored 45 in game six of the 1998 NBA Finals and won it with a jumper in the final seconds. It was his last act as a Chicago Bull.

Nicolas Richoffer CC BY-SA 4.0

Ayrton Senna driving a McLaren Formula One car

Fifth to first in one wet lap at Donington, in the wrong car

Ayrton Senna passed four cars on the opening lap of the 1993 European Grand Prix in changing conditions, and won by more than a minute in a car that…

wileynorwichphoto CC BY 2.0

The twisties, the withdrawal, and the three years that followed it

Simone Biles withdrew from five finals in Tokyo after losing her spatial awareness mid-air. She came back and won again, which is the part the sport…

Ocoudis CC0

Kleon3 CC BY-SA 4.0

1:59:40 in Vienna, and why it was never going to be a world record

Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon distance in under two hours in October 2019. The conditions that made it possible are exactly the ones that disqualified it.

Cyrus Saatsaz CC BY-SA 4.0

402 three-pointers in a season, and the shot chart that emptied the mid-range

Golden State went 73-9 in 2015-16 and Stephen Curry became the first unanimous MVP. The arithmetic he demonstrated has since reshaped every roster in the league.

Latest other sports

Samuel Blanck CC0

9.58, and a world record that has now stood for seventeen years

Usain Bolt ran the 100 metres in 9.58 seconds in Berlin in August 2009, taking eleven hundredths off his own record. Nobody has been within a tenth of it since.

15 August 2026

Ocoudis CC0

The twisties, the withdrawal, and the three years that followed it

Simone Biles withdrew from five finals in Tokyo after losing her spatial awareness mid-air. She came back and won again, which is the part the sport is still learning from.

14 August 2026

Kleon3 CC BY-SA 4.0

1:59:40 in Vienna, and why it was never going to be a world record

Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon distance in under two hours in October 2019. The conditions that made it possible are exactly the ones that disqualified it.

13 August 2026

Dr. John Kelley, NOAA/NOS/COOPSPublic domain

A college team, the best side in the world, and twenty minutes at Lake Placid

The United States beat the Soviet Union 4-3 in the 1980 Olympic ice hockey tournament. It was a medal-round game, not a final, and it was not shown live.

12 August 2026

Nicolas Richoffer CC BY-SA 4.0

5.2 seconds in Utah: the last shot of the second Chicago dynasty

Michael Jordan scored 45 in game six of the 1998 NBA Finals and won it with a jumper in the final seconds. It was his last act as a Chicago Bull.

11 August 2026

wileynorwichphoto CC BY 2.0

Fifth to first in one wet lap at Donington, in the wrong car

Ayrton Senna passed four cars on the opening lap of the 1993 European Grand Prix in changing conditions, and won by more than a minute in a car that was not the quickest.

10 August 2026

Cyrus Saatsaz CC BY-SA 4.0

402 three-pointers in a season, and the shot chart that emptied the mid-range

Golden State went 73-9 in 2015-16 and Stephen Curry became the first unanimous MVP. The arithmetic he demonstrated has since reshaped every roster in the league.

9 August 2026