Circus performer almost triples world record after following grandad into family business
A circus performer has almost tripled a world record in honour of her grandfather who inspired her to get into the business.
Tiffany Field (Australia) set the new limit for longest duration performing aerial neck spins with a time of 3 min 1.18 sec – way beyond the record of 1 min 10.28 sec set by Huaying Huang (USA) last year.
The 27-year-old acrobat comes from a long line of circus performers, going back from her grandfather Gordon all the way to his great-grandfather.
Tiffany told us: “He was born into circus with his father being a contortionist, and himself being a dancer. Although my parents tried their best to push me away from circus, the bug in me just wouldn't let me stay away.
“I felt as though there was part of me missing when I tried to stay away from circus. I know from seeing him watch my shows, the look on his face says it all. He is incredibly proud that I chose to continue his family legacy and it means the world to me that he is proud of my choice to pursue circus and performing.
“Neck suspension is a very niche skill that not many performers can do, so I feel as though it is a little homage to my family heritage stemming back into the days of freak show circus.”
Tiffany performs neck spins in shows all the time and noticed she had a particular talent for it when the sound tech told her she sometimes goes for so long they have to extend the music.
She started performing the stunt in 2023 and loves doing it.
She said: “I enjoy the feeling and feel like I could stay there for as long as I wish. I feel a bit like it was a skill that my body was already naturally good at and I just developed on that over the years.”
Even more amazingly, Tiffany broke this record while she was injured.
She explained: “When I achieved this record I was still recovering from a full foot reconstruction from an unrelated injury that happened in July 2025 in a show. At the time I still had no sensation in my right foot and part of my leg from surgery.
“So I believe that at full health I would be able to do an even better time. I want to show with this that even when dealing with or recovering from a major injury like mine that there is still always something else you can do to keep you motivated and show yourself what you are capable of. Your only limit is your imagination.”
Read about more record-breaking circus performers in our Hobbies and Skills section.
Just because Tiffany is so comfortable doing neck spins doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous.
She said: “Neck suspension is extremely dangerous and there are large numbers of performers who get seriously injured or even die every year from this skill.”
Thankfully, Tiffany has never been injured while performing this stunt, but admits that she only ever spins to the right as her neck gets inexplicably stiff if she spins to the left.
Now she’s got the world record bug, as well as the circus bug, Tiffany says she’d love to claim more titles and that she’ll come back to defend her title if anyone out there performs a longer neck spin.