This guy just broke one of the toughest world records around

If you hold a world record, it’s definitely something to boast about. You can bask in the adulation of your peers, use it as a vital pulling technique and depending on the record, bring it out at parties to the delight of everyone. The tougher the record is, the more impressive, too – you can deadlift the most? Run the fastest? Have the biggest biceps? Well done, you’re a living legend, permanently etched into history.

But nobody on the planet comes close to university student Satoyuki Fujimura, for he is an omnipotent being who possesses potentially the greatest, and most dangerous skill on the planet. Watch, in awe, as he destroys a record previously unbeaten for eight years.

Yes, this unassuming youngster just smashed the Guinness World Record for most finger snaps in one minute. Using superhuman skills taught to him by his mother, he managed an astonishing 296 clicks in 60 seconds, besting the previous total of 278 by a country mile. For eight years, the original record stood, reigning champion Jens Gudmandsen strutting about the joint, flinging his hand back and forth like a cross between Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and Ali G, blissfully unaware of the young challenger in his midst.

Gudmandsen, so intimidating, so utterly terrifying in his confidence, that the record didn’t just go unbeaten for eight years – it went unchallenged. Not worth it. Not worth even trying. “You’re crazy!” people shouted at Satoyuki, “You’ll never manage it!” But he was made of stronger stuff, and he knew the talent he had – he’d trained all his life for it, after all. 

“If he dies, he dies,” Gudmandsen was alledged to have said before Satoyuki attempted the record. But he did the opposite of die – he lived. And he absolutely blew it out the water. He’ll be banging this out in pubs for the next 20 years.

“This is all well and good,” you’re thinking, “but how in the name of click do they count the snaps?” Well, an official adjudicator watched a hugely slowed down recording of the event with two professional sound engineers (“Finally, a useful outlet for our skills,” they said in unison) to make sure that only audible clicks that were made using the thumb and middle finger would be counted. This was high stakes stuff.

It all happened on Japanese TV show Tantei! Knightscoop, which is very obviously the most exciting show on television. Next week they’re rumoured to have the world record attempt for most Vs flicked in one hour. The previous record holder is your dad, last weekend at your sister’s wedding.