I’m usually pretty uninterested in races of all sorts. I feel like there’s just no room for storylines. Basically one of three things happens:
(1) Someone is faster and wins
(2) Someone is faster, then someone else comes from behind
(3) Someone is faster, then someone else almost comes from behind, but not quite
Like, once you’ve seen enough races, you’ve just seen every possible storyline. And so many different sports (running, swimming, car driving, horse racing, rowing, etc.) all have races. It’s just tedious.
That said, every once in a while even I find a race to be genuinely exciting. By far the most memorable I’ve ever seen is the 2008 4x100 Olympic freestyle relay.
What are some others?
I guess downhill skiing isn’t technically a race since only one person is on the hill at a time. Watching Franz Klammer win the gold in 1976 in front of his home country was one of the most exciting events I’ve ever watched. He knew he had to take every risk and just go balls to the wall. He looked like he was on the edge of wiping out every second.
Since we seem to be talking Olympics, I can’t help but think of the 1994 x-c ski relay (men’s division) won by Italy by half a ski over host Norway.
There was also the short track speed skating race a few years back where a New Zealand skater (Bradbury maybe?) knew he couldn’t keep up so hung back and hoped everyone else would crash. Which they did and he sailed across the finish line to win the gold medal.
I think the 2009 Kentucky Derby deserves some notice here. (Race starts at 2:44 in the linked video.)
It was won by Mine That Bird, a 50:1 long-shot. Prior to the start of the race, one “expert” comment was along these lines: “There’s a lot of talent this year and no clear favorite, so I can’t really say which horse will win. But it’s easy to say which horse will be dead last: Mine That Bird.”
And at the halfway point of the race (~3:46 in the video) that looked right - MTB was so far last that he almost got missed in the routine where the race caller says every horse’s position. But coming into the home stretch he began a ridiculous surge that blew by every horse and won the race by ~ 8 lengths. The race announcer is so far behind that MTB has a 3-length lead before his name is mentioned.
In the final 30 second of the race, this horse made up around 30 lengths on a field containing some of the best horses in the world. This should not be remotely possible for any horse, let alone a hopeless long shot.
The OP’s descriptions aren’t very accurate for cycling, which is a team sport and highly tactical. There are not-uncommon circumstances where the fastest rider is actually at a disadvantage. This is all down to the fact that, other things being equal, a larger number of riders in a group can go faster than a smaller number, and the guy in front is working harder to go the same speed as the guy behind. Add in that in many races (particularly the big stage races) different riders are pursuing different goals and you’ll find that there are a huge number of possible storylines. Some of those storylines can be tedious, but for the most part they aren’t. That said, if you don’t follow the sport you are entirely likely to not recognize the stories that are unfolding and find the races extremely tedious.
The most excited I’ve ever seen for any race was when I was in high school track. We had a killer 4x400 relay team. And often times the difference between winning and losing the entire meet came down to that race (Which was always last).
I love motoracing, but don’t care so much for the racing as much as the crazy engineering and balls of the drivers. F1 especially, but also hillclumbs, isle of man TT…etc…but every now and then the actual racing aspect will be an added bonus.
The 1957 German Grand Prix is supposed to have been amazing. Juan Manuel Fangio made a pit stop on the 13th lap (one lap of the old Nürburgring was 14 miles), and his mechanic let the wheel nut roll under the car. By the time he got back in the race he was almost a minute behind. He broke the track record 9 times while coming back to win; the greatest drive by one of the greatest drivers ever.
Too many bike races to list. A great running race, though, that sticks in the mind from years back was the commonwealth games 5000m in 1990.
The mighty John Ngugi - most dominant crosscountry runner of his generation and also an Olympic gold medallist on the track, gets tangled up with another runner on lap2 and goes flat on his arse. Gets up and says to himself This Shall Not Pass - tears it back onto the group [30 yards ahead and running away from him], runs through them, then gaps the whole field and dishes out a savage pace en route to what looks like an amazing victory.
Except Ngugi has paid a severe price for this effort - going into the last lap he still commands a huge lead, but he’s visibly cracking - running though treacle. The field get a push on to contest second place and realise they can catch him, and the Australian Andrew Lloyd does him on the line.
By far was the 2013 New Zealand Trotting Cup, the biggest harness race in the Southern Hemisphere. Terror to Love was the favorite by far and had won the past 2 years. About 100 yards from the start the horse broke trot and galloped. The rider had to stop the horse then start trotting again. By then the horse was over half a lap down. Terror to Love not only caught up, he won by a handy margin. It was one of the highlights of my visit to New Zealand.
As an auto racing fan, my favorite was Ricky Craven running down Kurt Busch from half a lap down with 22 laps to go to win at Darlington. They bumped and shoved for the last lap and Craven won by a few inches.
I’ll second that. There are only a few athletic events in history that can truly be called overwhelming: Georgia Tech vs. Cumberland, Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points, the second Louis-Schmeling fight. Secretariat ranks with those.
Gust Of Wind, at her second start, won this race where it seems for most of the race that she will run last. Despite the ordinary opposition it marked her as a freakish prospect. A couple of starts later she won the Oaks beating Winx.
Over the next two years she had 9 starts, barely beating home anything, due to various foot problems. She is now retired. At the same time the horse she beat in the Oaks, Winx, has been undefeated since in 22 starts and is, or was, arguably the best horse in the world.
When something like that happens, it really makes you wonder how close to maximum effort these top athletes are normally putting out, when there’s this extra gear that they can engage when they absolutely have to… mysteries of human physiology.
Thanks for reminding me of this, my daughter and I just watched all three of Secretariat’s races (she rides equestrian, but after watching these videos she asked to go to a race track, so Saratoga it is this year!). The thing I didn’t know, or didn’t remember, was the other horse, Sham - he looked likely to win any of those races if it weren’t for Secretariat.
In the meantime, you might enjoy this. It’s amazing, but it’s really the announcers that make it great:
