There are many prolific record holders in the Guinness World Records (GWR) archives. But none of their achievements quite match those of title holder Ashrita Furman, from Brooklyn, New York - he's the person with the most Guinness World Records titles.
Over the past three decades, Ashrita has made it his life’s mission to break as many records as he can, eager to prove that anyone with a heartfelt dream and a determined mindset can make a name for themselves.
Ashrita, who was born in 1954, has set more than 600 records and currently holds over 200.
These titles cover a huge breadth of categories and an assortment of talents, varying from intrepid expeditions up the side of Mount Fuji by pogo stick to ambitious pursuits of spinning insanely large hula hoops around the body.
Ashrita’s dream of becoming a multiple title holder first took hold as a young boy in the early 1960s, after he developed a fascination with the annual Guinness World Records book. Like many children around the world, Ashrita was eager to crack open the latest edition each year to see the world’s tallest, largest, quickest, and brightest.
Ashrita’s very first record attempt was for doing the most consecutive jumping jacks, but he wasn't fit enough and failed to break the record. Undeterred, Ashrita decided the solution was training. He trained for hours, over the course of several weeks, familiarising himself with the core principles that every GWR title-holder must master in order to achieve a record.
Six hours, 45 minutes and 27,000 jumping jacks later, Ashrita had not only achieved his first record, but also began a life pursuit of pushing the boundaries.
With the help of his friends, Ashrita quickly widened his collection of titles to contain a long list of impressive attempts. Ranging from Farthest distance trekked balancing a bike on chin, Most fire torches lit and extinguished in one minute, Fastest mile on a pogo stick, Longest time to hula hoop underwater and Most arrows broken with the neck in one minute, to Greatest distance travelled on a bicycle balancing a milk bottle on the head and, yes, he also achieved Most matchsticks extinguished with the tongue in one minute.
Ashrita Furman has nearly done it all.
