2024-09-23 07:55:33
HAVANAFormer Cuban footballer Erick Hernández set a new world record for ball control by holding a ball in the air for more than 12 hours, touching it only with his feet uninterruptedly and from a standing position.
The Cuban, who is about to turn 58, kept the ball without falling for 12 hours, six minutes and 10 seconds, in a test carried out in a hotel on the northern coast of Havana, where he surpassed the exact 12 hours achieved in December 2022 by the Iranian Saeid Momivand.
A group of referees accredited by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) oversaw the attempt to include it in the Guinness World Records, where Hernández has registered several records since he began this practice in 1994, under the influence of his brother Douglas, who also achieved some world records in the specialty.
The Cuban athlete walked in circles without dropping the ball, in an exhausting test in which, however, he experienced the worst moments at the beginning and at the end.
“The beginning was extremely difficult for me. After four hours I started to get comfortable a bit and by the end I was obviously a bit exhausted,” the former footballer told Xinhua.
To achieve the new record, the unique Cuban athlete underwent strict training in the gym, working on the quadriceps, femoral biceps, triceps, sternocleidomastoid, trapezius, pectoral and calf muscles.
He also worked on his core and legs, with emphasis on his upper back and lower back, as well as devoting time to running and practicing ball control with one-kilogram leggings on each ankle.
For Hernandez, age is not an impediment, as he assures that he will continue trying to set new records as long as he feels motivated, and this year he plans to set the record for the longest time with ball control in a sitting position.
The Cuban looks younger than his age, with a slim figure, hardened in the gym, perhaps even better prepared now than when he was part of the team from Cerro, a Havana neighborhood and traditional soccer stronghold of the capital of the Caribbean country.
Hernández has great versatility that allows him to be considered as “a complete dominator”, with world records of skill with the ball and the ability to touch it with all parts of the body, even while running.
The chain of records considered began in 2005, when he touched the ball with his head 319 times in one minute, followed in 2009 by keeping the ball in the air, only with his thighs, for one hour and 28 minutes.
The athlete returned to the Guinness World Records in 2020, hitting a ball with his head 188 times in just 30 seconds, beating by one touch the previous record, which he himself had set in 2011.
He also holds the world record for holding a ball while sitting on the floor for three hours and four minutes, as well as with a 1.5 kilogram weight tied to each ankle.
In February 2023, the former Cuban footballer controlled the ball for one hour, 12 minutes and five seconds using only his head and sitting with a 1.5 kilogram weight on his ankles.
Near the end of last year, last September, he achieved another record by hitting the ball 12,237 times with his whole body, surpassing the record of Mexican Abraham Muñoz.
By: XINHUA