Jaipur (Rajasthan): A former Army commando, Himmat Singh Rathore from Rajasthan claims to have broken the world record for greatest vertical height stair climbing in 24 hours, and now aims to get his name added to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Rathore, 40, climbed a whopping 70,679 stairs in less than 24 hours, starting at 5.30 pm on Monday (May 6) and ending at 5.22 PM on Tuesday (May 7) in Jaipur. He set the record while doing 161 rounds of the stairs of a 20-floor building in Jaipur. The current Guinness World Record holder, Christian Roberto Lopez Rodriguez from Spain, had climbed 70,242 stairs (18.713 km) on July 1 2023.
Himmat's (the name means courage in Hindi) feat was monitored by a team of physical education teachers at a local government school. Physical teacher Santosh Rathore said that Singh broke the record before time.
"The entire feat of him climbing the stairs was recorded on camera. Now, all of this will be sent to the headquarters of the Guinness Book of World Records to verify and add his name to the record book. We are confident that the record for climbing the most stairs in 24 hours will be in the name of Himmat Singh of Jaipur," he said.
In March this year, Himmat had etched his name in the India Book of Records after he continuously climbed and descended 86,400 steps (43,200 ascended and 43,200 descended) at Khatipura Puliya in Jaipur, completing the gruelling challenge in just 19 hours, 46 minutes, and 16 seconds. It was then that he made up his mind to have a crack at the Guinness World Record.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Himmat Singh said he had planned to climb 1 lakh stairs but the hot weather turned spoilsport and he had to stop his attempt after breaking Rodriguez's record.
He said that the purpose of making the record was to give a message to the youth to stay away from drugs. "In today's era, even 15 or 16-year-old teens indulge in drugs and do not have any purpose in life. Those children should be inspired that when a 40-year-old person can break the record of a 32-year-old person, then they too can do anything," he said.
"A Rajasthani camel and an Indian soldier never get old," he quipped.
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