How far the human body has really gone: nine records

Nine records at a glance

In our photo series on TikTok, we showed nine feats in which people pushed their bodies to the limit. Here are the verified figures, each with year and location.

Sources: Which human record is the most extreme? (TikTok post by @pribblymedia)

Staying awake and holding your breath

Randy Gardner was 17 when he stayed awake for 264 hours for a school science fair in San Diego. His experiment remains one of the best-documented cases of sleep deprivation. Guinness no longer accepts such record attempts because they are too dangerous to health.

In June 2025, in Opatija, Vitomir Maričić held his breath for 29 minutes and 3 seconds. The small print matters: the record belongs to the category in which pure oxygen may be inhaled beforehand.

Sources: Lessons from sleeplessness: The 60th anniversary of Randy Gardner's world record · Longest time breath held voluntarily underwater (male)

Records in the water

In 2018, Ross Edgley became the first person to swim around mainland Britain. He spent 157 days at sea and slept on a support boat. The salt water damaged his tongue so badly that pieces of it came away.

In September 2019, Sarah Thomas swam across the English Channel four times without stopping, a year after finishing her breast cancer treatment. Because of the tides, the straight-line distance of just over 130 kilometres became more than 200 kilometres.

In 2012, Herbert Nitsch descended on a sled to 253 metres off Santorini. No human had ever gone deeper on a single breath. After surfacing, he suffered severe decompression sickness and then needed a long period of rehabilitation.

Sources: Everything you need to know about Ross Edgley's Great British Swim · First person to swim the English Channel four times non-stop · Deepest no-limit freedive (male)

Records on land

On 26 April 2026, Sabastian Sawe won the London Marathon in 1:59:30. Eliud Kipchoge had already run under two hours in 2019, but in conditions that don’t count as a record. Sawe’s run is the first official one.

In 2024, on the Challenge Roth course, Jonas Deichmann completed 3.8 kilometres of swimming, 180 kilometres of cycling and a marathon on 120 consecutive days. The previous record was 105 days.

In June 2025, Phil Gore ran 119 laps at the Backyard Ultra in Dead Cow Gully. In this format, a new 6.7-kilometre lap starts every hour until only one person is left. In total, it added up to almost 800 kilometres.

Sources: Sabastian Sawe Shatters the 2-Hour Barrier at 2026 London Marathon · Deichmann reaches the finish after 120 triathlons in 120 days · Phil Gore Sets Backyard Ultra World Record With 119 Loops at Dead Cow Gully