KATHMANDU: In an extraordinary feat of strength and balance, 29-year-old Hari Chandra Giri has broken the record for the fastest time to descend 75 stairs on the hands.
Hari, who works in the Nepali Army’s sports center, sped down the stairs in just 25.03 seconds, averaging three steps per second.
He shaved over five seconds off the previous record, set by Mark Kenny (USA) in 2014, who did it in 30.8 seconds.
Hari’s record attempt took place on the steps of a Buddhist temple, Jamchen Vijaya Stupa, which overlooks Nepal’s iconic Kathmandu Valley.
To successfully achieve this record, the challenger must walk down the stairs on their hands without any other part of their body touching the floor or being supported in any way.
Doing this at high speed is extremely dangerous and difficult, however, Hari made it look easy, displaying masterful control of his body to complete the challenge without falling.
Hari has been honing his hand-walking skills since he was eight years old, and he’s now achieved four Guinness World Records titles by using this talent.
Hari said he was inspired to begin breaking records after seeing videos of other people’s record attempts. Although he was amazed at their achievements, he was confident that he could do better.
His first record attempt was in 2021, where he broke Kevin Delcò’s (Switzerland) record for the fastest time to descend 50 stairs on the hands. Hari did it in 12.65 seconds, smashing Kevin’s record of 14.58 seconds, which had stood for seven years until then.
One year later, on 4 May 2022, Hari performed the fastest 50 meters walking on hands with a football between the legs in 25.58 seconds, narrowly beating Zhang Shuang’s (China) record of 26.09 seconds.
On the same day, Hari also set a brand new record for the fastest 10 metres walking on hands with a football between the legs, doing so in 4.49 seconds.
2023 has now seen Hari add another record to his collection, but he has no plans of stopping here.
As seen in the above video, Hari is able to pull a car while walking on his hands, and he could potentially achieve two more Guinness World Records titles by doing so.
The record for the heaviest vehicle pulled by walking on hands is 4,020 kg (8,862 lb), set by Matteo Pavone (Italy) in 2019, whilst the fastest time to pull a car 50 meters walking on hands is 1 min 13.27 sec, achieved by Zhang Shuang in 2021. Having already broken one of Zhang’s records, Hari will undoubtedly also be eyeing up this one.
(with inputs from Guinness World Records)
