OCTOBER 9 2018 - 12:55PM
Armidale's Anthony Kelly breaks another Guinness World Record
MARTIAL ARTS MASTER: Perpetual Guinness World Record holder Anthony Kelly has broken yet another world record for fastest tennis ball caught.
STARING down the barrel of a custom-made air gun, Anthony Kelly is a long-time member of one of the world’s most exclusive clubs.
With 50 Guinness World Records under his belt, Kelly just earned the title of World’s Fastest Tennis Ball Caught at 248 kilometres per hour.
Recently, he was best man at the wedding of his good mate Morris Zavatta – one of the greatest tightrope walkers in the world.
“I’ve been practicing the fastest tennis ball for two years, it’s extremely hard to do,” Kelly said.
“The speed of the balls travelling from the air cannon I had to get made in America myself is 0.08 seconds, we’re talking a thousand of a second.
“I have to really train my body to overcome the pain the balls inflict on my body.”
Kelly just learned he’ll be on the inside cover of the Guinness World Book of Records in 2019.
The 54-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. He lives on a diet of meat and potatoes, and reckons he’s never eaten a piece of fruit or a vegetable in his life.
“One of my techniques is opening and closing my hand in five seconds – I have a personal best of 85,” he said.
“That keeps my body super active, I think we can do anything if we set our mind to develop our bodies.”
Kelly has appeared on television shows worldwide; he’s been studied by scientists in Plymouth, England; and met the crew of Mythbusters.
“I have a few other records pushing on the limits of human endurance,” he said,
“I know I won’t do it forever but I certainly have two or three other records that will make people stand up and have a look at what people can achieve.”
Each record he plans to break takes significant physical and mental preparation.
“My motto is ‘physically, mentally, faster, stronger,’” he said in 2016.
“I know I’m only going to live once and so that’s why I do it, I want to try to get the most out of myself.
”I’ve got some really wild ideas of what I want to do, pushing human boundaries.”