1957 — Gert Potgieter breaks the world 440-yard hurdles record as he clocks 50.7 sec at the national championships in Queenstown. At the time Potgieter didn’t know he’d broken the mark, admitting afterwards he had no idea what the world record was. The official mark for the distance was 51.3, held by Soviet athlete Yuriy Lituyev. But his world record over the official distance of 400 metres — or 437 yards and one foot — hurdles was 50.4.