World record
quantified value of an event that is more extreme than that of all comparable events worldwide, often in sport
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book Guinness World Records and other world records organizations collates and publishes notable records of many.
Terminology
In the United States, the form World's Record was formerly more common. The term The World's Best was also briefly in use. The latter term is still used in athletics events, including track and field and road running to describe good and bad performances that are not recognized as an official world record: either because it is not an event where World Athletics tracks the record (e.g. the 150 m run or individual events in a decathlon), or because it does not fulfill other rigorous criteria of an otherwise qualifying event (e.g. the Great North Run half-marathon, which has an excessive downhill gradient). The term is also used in video game speedrunning for the fastest achieved time in the game and category.
“World record” enters the record as quantified value of an event that is more extreme than that of all comparable events worldwide, often in sport. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what World, quantified and value can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“World record” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, World, quantified and value provides the most credible route into that argument.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q688615. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “World record”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow World record primary sources, World record archive and World research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “World record”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “World record” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.