Advertisement

This Day in Sports: Edwin Moses’ 10-year, 107-race winning streak comes to an end

Edwin Moses, right, wins the 400-meter hurdle event at the World Track and Field Championships in Rome in 1987.
Edwin Moses, right, wins the 400-meter hurdle event at the world track and field championships in Rome in 1987. Danny Harris, left, finished second and Harald Schmid of West Germany finished third.
(Associated Press)
Share via

Edwin Moses’ 10-year, 107-race winning streak ended on this date in 1987 when fellow American Danny Harris beat the two-time Olympic champion in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 47.56 seconds at an international meet in Madrid.

The streak, the longest in track and field history, was over when Moses tripped on the 10th, and last, hurdle and finished 0.13 seconds behind Harris, who three years earlier had come in second to Moses at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

After the defeat, Moses went on to win 10 more races, including beating Harris in the 1987 world championships at Rome.

Advertisement

“I lost because I am not in great shape right now,” Moses said. “And Danny had the run of his life. I lost my balance on the 10th hurdle and that upset my rhythm.”

A look at some of the biggest moments in sports history to have occurred on May 25.

The Dodgers would have opened a four-game series Thursday against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. The Angels were scheduled to play the first of four games against the Minnesota Twins at Minneapolis. Both games were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here is a look at memorable games and outstanding sports performances on this date:

1927 — The United States wins the first Ryder Cup golf tournament by beating Great Britain 9 1/2 to 2 1/2 at the Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Mass. Ted Ray is the captain of Great Britain and Walter Hagen leads a U.S. team that includes Gene Sarazen. The format is played in teams of eight in four foursomes and eight singles matches.

Advertisement

1966 — Amberoid, with Bill Boland up, wins the Belmont Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths over Buffle. Kauai King, the winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, finishes fourth. Lucien Laurin, Amberoid’s trainer, is victorious in his first attempt at winning the third jewel of the Triple Crown, which is held this year at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, N.Y., because the grandstand and clubhouse at Belmont Park are being renovated.

1988 — West Germany’s Steffi Graf beats 17-year-old Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union in 32 minutes with a 6-0, 6-0 victory in the French Open women’s final for her second straight title, losing just 13 points at Roland Garros in Paris. Graf, who earlier had beaten Chris Evert at the Australian Open, would go on to singles victories at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open for a Grand Slam sweep.

1990 — In a 7-3 vote by school presidents at Iowa City, Iowa, Penn State officially is accepted into the Big Ten Conference. The eastern school at University Park, Pa., becomes the 11th member and the first addition to the Midwest-based league since Michigan State joined in 1949.

Advertisement

2005 — Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium outclasses a rattled Mary Pierce of France 6-1, 6-1 to win the French Open women’s title. The victory caps Henin-Hardenne’s remarkable comeback from a blood virus and it is her fourth Grand Slam title and second at Roland Garros. Pierce’s play is so abject that calls for the second set to be stopped are heard from the stands before it is finished.

2005 — Eddie Castro sets a North American record for most wins by a jockey in a single day at one racetrack by finishing first in nine races on the 13-race card at Miami’s Calder Race Course, including the featured $100,000 Office Queen Stakes. Castro rides eleven mounts in his record run, which comes the day after he wins five races at the same track.

A look at what happened today in sports history, including cheating Rosie Ruiz’s ‘fast one’ at the 1980 Boston Marathon.

2009 — Randy Johnson wins his 300th career game to become the 24th pitcher in major league history to reach the milestone as the San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals 5-1 in the first game of a doubleheader at Washington. The “Big Unit” goes six innings, gives up one run on two hits and strikes out two.

2011 — China’s Li Na wins her first tennis Grand Slam singles title by beating Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 7-6 (0) in the final of the French Open., making her the first player from China, man or woman, to achieve such a feat. Li, who was runner-up at the Australian Open, claims her first tournament title on clay and fifth overall.

2013 — Keilani Ricketts hits a home run and drives in four, and Michelle Gascoigne pitches a three-hit shutout to lead Oklahoma to the Women’s College World Series championship over Tennessee 4-0. Ricketts drives a 2-1 pitch from Tennessee’s Ivy Renfroe into the right-field bleachers for a three-run blast in the third inning and adds a fourth RBI on a groundout in the seventh.

SOURCES: The Times, Associated Press

Advertisement