World records quiz: which athletes went highest, fastest and strongest?

Katie Ledecky, Usain Bolt and Jonathan Edwards. Composite: Getty

1. Which men’s world record is 9.58 seconds?

   1. 110m hurdles

   2. 100m run

   3. 200m run

   4. 50m freestyle swim

2. Which women’s swimming world record is 23.61 seconds?

   1. 50m freestyle

   2. 50m butterfly

   3. 50m backstroke

   4. 50m breaststroke

3. Which men’s world record is 18.29 metres?

   1. The long jump

   2. The triple jump

   3. The shot put

   4. The pole vault

4. Which women’s record is 21.34 seconds?

   1. 100m run

   2. 200m run

   3. 110m hurdles

   4. 25m freestyle swim

5. Which men’s world record is 12 minutes and 35 seconds?

   1. 5,000m run

   2. 3,000m steeplechase

   3. 1,500m freestyle swim

   4. 10,000m run

6. Which women’s world record is 82.98 metres?

   1. Discus

   2. Shot put

   3. Hammer throw

   4. Javelin

7. Which men’s world record is two hours and 35 seconds?

   1. The 50km walk

   2. The marathon

   3. The triathlon (1.5 km swim, 40km cycle, 10km run)

   4. The 100km cycle

8. Which women’s record is five metres and six centimetres?

   1. High jump

   2. Pole vault

   3. Long jump

   4. Triple jump

9. Which men’s record is three minutes and 43 seconds?

   1. The mile run

   2. The 400-metre medley swim (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly)

   3. 10km swim

   4. Eights rowing (over a distance of 2,000m)

10. Which world record is 76.80 metres?

    1. Men’s discus

    2. Women’s discus

    3. Men’s javelin

    4. Women’s javelin

11. Which women’s world record is seven hours and 25 minutes?

    1. 100-mile run

    2. Fastest cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats

    3. Longest time in the plank position

    4. Fastest swim across the Channel

12. Which men’s record is 198.6 miles?

    1. The longest run in 24 hours

    2. The longest cycle in one hour

    3. The longest bicycle wheelie

    4. The longest swim in 24 hours

Solutions

1:B - A famous one to get us going. Usain Bolt set this record in Berlin in 2009. It may not be broken for some time., 2:A - The freestyle record is faster than the other three strokes. Sarah Sjöström set this record last year. The Swedish swimmer also holds the world record in the 50m butterfly., 3:B - Jonathan Edwards set this record way back in 1995., 4:B - This record is also an old one. Florence Griffith-Joyner ran 21.34s at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Her 100m world record from that Games also still stands., 5:A - Joshua Cheptegei set this record in Monaco in 2020. The 10,000m record is 26 minutes and 11 seconds., 6:C - Anita Wlodarczyk set this record in 2016. The hammer throw record is longer than the discus, shot put and javelin record., 7:B - The late Kenyan runner Kelvin Kiptum set this record last year., 8:B - Yelena Isinbayeva set 17 world records in the pole vault, culminating in her vault of 5.06m in 2009. , 9:A - The mile record has dropped by 16 seconds since Roger Bannister broke the four-minute barrier in 1954., 10:B - The women’s discus record (set by Gabriele Reinsch in 1988) is longer than the men’s record of 74.35m, which was set by Mykolas Alekna earlier this year. The men’s discus weighs 2kg, compared to the 1kg discus in the women’s event. , 11:D - In case you were wondering, the women’s record for the longest plank is four hours, 30 minutes and 11 seconds. The men’s plank record is just over nine and a half hours., 12:A - Aleksandr Sorokin set the record in Verona two years ago. He wants to become the first athlete to run 200 miles in a day.

Scores

1. 1 and above.

   Ah well. Better luck next time

2. 2 and above.

   Ah well. Better luck next time

3. 3 and above.

   Ah well. Better luck next time

4. 4 and above.

   You didn't break a world record but you held your own. Well played.

5. 5 and above.

   You didn't break a world record but you held your own. Well played.

6. 6 and above.

   You didn't break a world record but you held your own. Well played.

7. 7 and above.

   You didn't break a world record but you held your own. Well played.

8. 8 and above.

   You've put yourself in the record books with that performace

9. 9 and above.

   You've put yourself in the record books with that performace

10. 10 and above.

    You've put yourself in the record books with that performace

11. 12 and above.

    You've put yourself in the record books with that performace

12. 0 and above.

    Ah well. Better luck next time

13. 11 and above.

    You've put yourself in the record books with that performace