Circus World Records

Ryan Stock hit 16 targets using a bullwhip while swallowing a sword.

De Guayaba juggled four clubs for 8.78 seconds while balancing a ball on top of a stick held in his mouth, spinning a hoop on his right leg, and balancing on a slackline.

Lauren Hughes, a former sideshow entertainer, escapologist, and circus performer, spun a lit fire contact staff for 7 minutes and 13 seconds while locked in two pairs of genuine handcuffs. Filmed outdoors at night, Hughes keeps the flaming staff in constant motion with her wrists chained together, combining escape artistry with fire performance in a way that probably violates several insurance policies.

With ten minutes before his airport Uber, Rocco Lapaire climbed onto a slack rope, grabbed two diabolos, and set a world record. His third attempt of the morning landed 9 clean off-string throws, and he's already planning to beat it. A quick note on the rig: slack rope and slackline are related but distinct disciplines. Slack rope (also called slackwire) is a centuries-old circus tradition going back to 18th-century European big tops, performed on a low-tension rope that sags and swings under the performer. Slackline is its younger cousin, invented by Yosemite climbers in the 1980s, built on flat webbing with dynamic bounce. Different gear, different balance, same family. The category is wide open for anyone with a slack rope (or a slackline), two spools, and steady feet.

Professional daredevil Noah Royak stood on the main stage at the Erie County Fair in Buffalo, New York, swallowed a sword, and then multiplex juggled six balls with the blade still down his throat. Multiplex juggling, throwing more than one ball from a hand at once, is its own discipline within juggling, and Royak is the first to bring it to the sword swallowing stage. He already holds the RecordSetter record for most balls juggled in a standard cascade while sword swallowing, five, and this six-object multiplex mark now sits alongside it as a separate category.

Michael L. performed a planche on circus hand balancing canes for 6.91 seconds.