Sports Quadrupedal Tottori athlete breaks Guinness World Record

Now that's a bit bizarre. The next Olympic discipline, perhaps?

Inspired by the agile movements of monkeys and cats, Ryusei Yonee, 22, from Yonago in Tottori Prefecture, set a new Guinness World Record by running 100 metres on all fours in 14.55 seconds on 24 September. The attempt took place at a local stadium, witnessed by Yonago Mayor Takashi Igi, numerous residents, and an official adjudicator from Guinness World Records. Yonee beat the previous record of 15.66 seconds, which had been set in the United States in 2022. After his first two attempts, he paused briefly due to trouble with coordination, but on his third run, he settled into a steady rhythm and crossed the 100 metres in record time.

Yonee has been practicing quadrupedal running for about nine years. He first became interested in running on his hands and feet in his second year of junior high school, when a science teacher said, "Animals that run on all fours are fast." Those words stuck with him. "If I master four-legged running, I might even be able to beat overseas athletes in the 100 meters," he said he thought at the time. He was confident in his physical abilities, having played on the school soccer team. He trained almost daily on a mountain trail to Yonago Castle and on local beaches.

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