A 32-year-old woman from New Mexico, USA has broken Guinness World Records by rotating her feet back-to-front by almost 180 degrees. Kelsey Grubb has the largest foot rotation (female) and can turn her foot 171.4 degrees.
Ms Grubb told Guinness World Records that she found out about her unique talent from her colleague who read about it, "I work at a library and the newest world record book (2021) had just come out. A coworker was flipping through and randomly opened to the page with the largest foot rotation and said 'ew! That's so gross,'" she said.
Ms Grubb tried rotating her foot while standing on a piece of paper and realised that she had a good chance at smashing the record. "I didn't know the details about how the measurement needed to happen," said Kelsey. "But I thought I could no matter the details."
Ms Grubb shared that she was flexible. "I always knew I was flexible there but had assumed most people could turn their foot farther than 90 degrees out," she said.
Ms Grubb did not even prepare for this attempt. Ms Grubb's talent has proven to be particularly useful in her ice-skating career because she can turn around and look behind her without moving her feet, allowing her to be very aware of her surroundings.
"When I told everyone that I was trying [for the record] they immediately would ask to see," Ms Grubb told GWR.
"Once everyone saw, they were sure I could break the current record."
She shared that she applied to Guinness World Records on a whim
"It was surprising, as I applied on a whim, thinking 'Hey here's this cool thing that I can do, that apparently could be record worthy, let's see how this goes,'" she said.
"I never really trained or anything. But how cool that these records that so fascinated me as a child (and I see so many other children fascinated by), that there's something I can actually do!"
The record for the "largest foot rotation (male)" is held by Aaron Ford from Utah, also in the US. He can rotate his feet by 173.03 degrees.
