What Athlete has held the most WR's

Yiannis Kouros is the number one ultra-marathon runner, having broken more than 160 world records up to now

Haile Gebrselassie

set 27 world records, and is widely considered one of the greatest distance runners in history.

In September 2008, at the age of 35, he won the Berlin Marathon with a world record time of 2:03:59, breaking his own world record by 27 seconds. The record stood for three years. Since he was over the age of 35, that mark still stands as the Masters Age group world record.

Sergey Bubka broke the world record for men's pole vault 35

times during his career.[3] He broke the outdoor world record 17 times and the indoor world record 18 times

Pole vault career[edit]

Sergey Bubka started competing on the international athletics scene in 1981 when he participated in the European Junior Championship finishing seventh. But the 1983 World Championship held in Helsinki was his actual entry point to the world athletics, where a relatively unknown Bubka snatched the gold, clearing 5.70 metres (18 feet 8 inches). The years that followed witnessed the unparalleled dominance of Bubka, with him setting new records and standards in pole vaulting.

He set his first world record of 5.85m on 26 May 1984 which he improved to 5.88m a week later, and then to 5.90m a month later. He cleared 6.00 metres (19 feet 8 inches) for the first time on 13 July 1985 in Paris.[5] This height had long been considered unattainable. With virtually no opponents, Bubka improved his own record over the next 10 years until he reached his career best and the then world record of 6.14 m (20 feet 13⁄4 inches) in 1994.

He became the first athlete ever to jump over 6.10 metres, in San Sebastián, Spain in 1991. Until January 2014, no other athlete had cleared 6.07, indoors or outdoors. He set the currently listed world record of 6.14 metres in 1994 after some commentators had already predicted the decline of the great sportsman. Bubka increased the world record by 21 centimetres (8 inches) in the period from 1984 to 1988, more than other pole vaulters had achieved in the previous 12 years. He cleared 6.00 meters or better on 45 occasions, more than all other athletes in history combined (as of 20 April 2009 there have been 42 clearances of 6.00 metres by other athletes).[8]

Bubka officially retired from pole vault in 2001 during a ceremony at his Pole Vault Stars meeting in Donetsk.[9]

Olympics curse[edit]

Despite his dominance in pole vault, Bubka had a relatively poor record in the Olympic Games. The first Olympics after Bubka's introduction to the international athletics was held in 1984 and was boycotted by the USSR along with the majority of other Eastern Bloc countries. Two months before the Games he vaulted 12 cm higher than the eventual Olympic gold medal winner Pierre Quinon. In 1988 Bubka competed in the Seoul Olympics and won his only Olympic gold medal clearing 5.90 m. In 1992 he failed to clear in his first three attempts (5.70, 5.70, 5.75 m) and was out of the Barcelona Olympics. At the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 a heel injury caused him to withdraw from the competition without any attempts. In 2000 at the Sydney Olympics he was eliminated from the final after three unsuccessful attempts at 5.70 m.[10]

IAAF World championships[edit]

Bubka won the pole vault event in six consecutive IAAF World Championships in Athletics in the period from 1983 to 1997:

World record progression by Bubka[edit]

Bubka broke the world record for men's pole vault 35 times during his career.[3] He broke the outdoor world record 17 times and the indoor world record 18 times. Bubka lost his outdoor world record only once in his illustrious career. After Thierry Vigneron, of France, broke his record on 31 August 1984 at the Golden Gala international track meet in Rome, Bubka subsequently reclaimed the record on his next run, just minutes later.[11]

The fact that most of the time the record he improved was his own demonstrates his absolute dominance in the event. Exactly how high he could have jumped at his best is unknown: the majority of his world record attempts were made at 1 cm higher than the existing record, and once achieved, he would not attempt another record jump until the next opportunity to compete, even after a substantial clearance showing he could have achieved a higher height.[12]

Technique[edit]

Bubka possessed great strength, speed and gymnastic abilities.[3] His average speed during pole vaulting reportedly approached 35.7 km/h (9.9 m/s, 22.2 mph)[citation needed]. He gripped the pole higher than most vaulters to get extra leverage, though Bubka himself played down the effect of grip alone.[13] Bubka's strength meant that he could use a pole that was relatively heavy for his weight, thereby generating more recoil force. The statue erected in his honour in Donetsk shows an incorrect (and impossible) vaulting grip on the pole.

His development and mastery of the Petrov/Bubka technical model is also considered a key to his success. (A technical model is a sequence of positions and pressures which describe the method and style form of pole vaulting.) The Petrov/Bubka model is considered superior to many others today, because it allows the vaulter to continuously put energy into the pole while rising towards the bar.[citation needed] Most conventional models focus on creating maximum bend in the pole before leaving the ground, by planting the pole heavily on the landing pad. The Petrov/Bubka model follows the technique used by Kjell Isaksson,[14][15] which concentrates on driving the pole up, rather than bending it while planting it on the landing pad, combined with high running speed. While the traditional models depended on the recoil by bending the pole, the Petrov/Bubka model may exploit the recoil of the pole and exert more energy on the pole during the swinging action.[citation needed]

Awards and positions held[edit]

Serhiy Bubka statue,Donetsk

- Bubka won the Prince of Asturias Award in Sports in 1991
- Bubka was awarded the best sportsman of the Soviet Union for three years in a row from 1984 to 1986
- Bubka was voted Sportsman of the Year for 1997 by the influential newspaper L'Équipe
- Bubka was honored as the best pole vaulter of the last half century by Track & Field News
- Bubka was designated an IAAF council member in 2001. In 2011, he was elected a Vice-President of the organization for a four-year term.[16]
- He is currently serving as the president of National Olympic Committee of Ukraine and is an IOC member[17]
- Bubka was designated UNESCO Champion for Sport in 2003[18]
- In 2005 he received the Panathlon International Flambeau d'Or for his contribution to the development and promotion of sport.[19]
- From 2002 to 2006, he was a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and its Committee on youth policy, physical culture, sport and tourism[20][21]
- Bubka won the Marca Leyenda in 2005
- Completed his term in IOC athletes commission in August 2008[22]

Haile Gebrselassie (Amharic: ኃይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ?, haylē gebre silassē; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event. He won the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon. Further to this, he won four world titles indoors and was the 2001 World Half Marathon Champion.

Haile had major competition wins at distances between 1500 metres and the marathon, moving from outdoor, indoor and cross country running to road running in the latter part of his career. He broke 61 Ethiopian national records ranging from 800 metres to the marathon, set 27 world records, and is widely considered one of the greatest distance runners in history.[2][3][4][5][6]