Edwin Moses won 122 races in a row over nearly a decade

Beginning in August 1977, American hurdler Edwin Moses stopped losing. Race after race over the 400 metres hurdles, against the best in the world, he simply won - 122 consecutive victories stretching all the way to May 1987.

The span is often quoted with poetic precision: nine years, nine months and nine days. Across it Moses won two Olympic golds (1976 and 1984), world and World Cup titles, and set the world record multiple times, reshaping the event with his trademark 13 strides between every hurdle where rivals took 14 or 15.

It remains the longest winning streak in the history of track and field.

The streak ended on 4 June 1987 in Madrid, when fellow American Danny Harris edged him by a fraction. Moses was 31 and still racing at the front; he won a World Championship title later that same year.