Singapore may be a small country, but we are still capable of some pretty big feats. Here are 6 Singaporeans who gave our little red dot a claim to fame by setting some pretty interesting world records during their time.
Most Rear Pull-Ups In One Minute (38 pull-ups)
In case normal pull-ups are too easy for you like they are for Rain Chua Qin Lei, you could always just go for the more advanced rear pull-ups. In 2018, this 28-year-old set a world record for doing just that, by completing a whopping 38 rear-pull ups in just one minute. Plus, Rain’s a computer engineer too, which goes to show that you can, in fact, have both brains and brawn.
You can find his record entry here.
Longest duration spinning a fidget spinner on one finger (25 minutes 43 seconds)
Fidget spinners used to be all the craze a few years back. And if you’ve ever wondered how long one of those bad boys could really spin, William Lee has the answer for you. In 2019, he broke the previous world record for longest duration spinning a fidget spinner on one finger, by letting it spin for 25 minutes and 43 seconds. That’s right: he spun the fidget spinner, once, really hard, and then it kept spinning on its own for the duration of an MRT ride from City Hall to Tampines.
You can find his record entry here.
Fastest Time To Solve A Rubik’s Cube While Juggling (17 seconds)
Some of us can juggle, and some can solve a Rubik’s cube. Some can even do both. But Daryl Tan, 19, can do both at the same time. In March 2020, he successfully solved a Rubik’s cube in just 17.16 seconds with one hand, whilst also successfully juggling two balls with the other. Now that is talent.
You can find his record entry here.
Longest Beer Bottle Slide (14.10 metres)
Sliding a beer bottle across the table is a pretty neat party trick. But Jeffrey Ng Tiong Boon took it a bit further than that – 14 metres and 10 centimetres further, to be exact. He set this world record for the longest beer bottle slide at a Guinness event in 2013 and remains unbeaten to date. And while a bottle slide might not sound too impressive, consider that the bottle had to stay upright while travelling the entire 14 metres, and remain straight enough to not fall off the sides of a table barely wider than a laptop.
You can find his record entry here.
Longest submergence underwater in a controlled environment with air bell rests (220 hours)
Everyone gets wrinkly skin when they stay underwater a little too long. But try staying underwater for 9 days straight, and you’ll have to deal with a lot more than just wrinkly skin.
In setting his world record attempt, Mr Khoo Swee Chiow had to deal with challenges such as sleep deprivation, muscle fatigue from the water pressure of breathing underwater for days, and various infections from constantly being in a wet environment. During this entire 220 hours, or 9 days and 4 hours, he only consumed drinks and was allowed 5-minute toilet breaks in a special chamber.
You can find his record entry here.
Longest sheet of pasta rolled in one minute by an individual (2.04 metres)
Not many of us can claim to be better than celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay – not unless you’re polytechnic student Samuel Tan. During the circuit breaker and social distancing phases, he got into cooking and came across a video of Chef Ramsay breaking the previous world record for the longest sheet of pasta in one minute. He then decided to one-up the world-famous chef by rolling a 2.03-metre long sheet of pasta in the same amount of time, crushing the previous record by more than 50 centimetres.
You can find his record entry here.
World Records By Singaporeans
Singapore is home to some pretty talented individuals, and they’ve achieved some world-class feats worth celebrating. Our country is also home to our very own football legend Fandi Ahmad, and you can check out our exclusive interview with him here.
