If you’ve watched IShowSpeed’s streams at any point in time, you’ve probably noticed he has a couple of go-to moves he pulls off to keep things lively. Now, he’s closing in on a world record for one of them. And no, it’s not barking.
Speed’s currently in the middle of a self-advertised world record attempt for the most backflips completed in 24 hours. And he’s making some excellent headway, as well. He only began about seven hours ago, and his counter sits at 500 backflips at time of writing—just under halfway to the world record number 1,001. While he’s understandably slowed down from his early pace and he’s taken some ample breaks to nap and take breaks, that world record should be attainable for him if he can keep his pace steady. If the world record ends up counting at all, that is.
While Speed has some impressive pace at the moment, it doesn’t seem like the fine folks at the Guinness Book of World Records actually knew about this world record attempt. “We had no idea this was happening but you do you bro,” the Guinness account simply said in response to Speed’s tweet about the attempt. And while Speed is streaming the entire thing, it’s unclear if the world record will count even if he does 1,002 backflips in a day.
In order to set or break a Guinness World Record, you generally need to apply to do so. And a lot of the time, an actual representative from Guinness appears to observe the world record attempt. It does appear there is an option to self-submit evidence of completing a world record, it also looks like you need to apply and receive guidelines for doing so first.
“I need my award tomorrow,” Speed replied to Guinness’ tweet, which… probably isn’t happening, but crazier things have happened.
If anything, cementing his place as the backflip endurance king of the world only legitimizes the IShowSpeed Simulator game, in which you can take control of Speed and try to get the highest viewer count you can. You do this by running around to gather crowds and then doing one of two available actions: barking and backflipping.
And regardless of whether the record will count or not, managing to pull off over 1,000 backflips in under 24 hours is still a wildly impressive feat. Speed should just be wary of the record not standing very long—the current record, held by Austrian Nico Scheicher, was set in under nine hours, according to Guinness. With a streamer as popular as Speed shining a light on the record, don’t be surprised if Scheicher or someone else comes back to set a new record soon.
