Dad runs fastest mile dribbling two basketballs to outdo his kids' favourite YouTubers
A soon-to-be dad-of-five who played basketball in college broke a record to impress his kids with his skills.
Michael Dodd (USA) ran the fastest mile dribbling two basketballs in just 8 min 28.31 sec as his family cheered him on from the side of the running track in Nicholasville, Kentucky, last November.
Who says dads aren’t cool?
Michael, who shares Lucy, 13, Grant, 11, Annie, nine, Sadie, six, and has another on the way with his wife Amanda, said: “My kids love watching Dude Perfect videos on YouTube. I watched one with them back in the fall of 2025, and they did a video attempting to break several world records.
“One of the records that they broke was fastest mile dribbling two basketballs, and I told my kids, ‘I could definitely break that record.’ I played college basketball, and I run two or three times per week, so I knew this was a great opportunity to break a world record and become a hero in the eyes of my children by besting the Dude Perfect guys.”
The 41-year-old emergency medicine physician, practised in his driveway and dribbled basketballs up and down his neighbourhood before heading to the local middle school track to officially attempt his record.
Michael, whose dad was a college basketball coach, says he was born with the sport in his blood and there are even pictures of him in the family album with a basketball in his crib.
But even with a lifelong love for the sport, he admits it still took a lot of practice to get up to record-breaking level.
He said: “It definitely takes practice. I feel like the key was trying to get in a rhythm by keeping the same pace and not speeding up or slowing down. It felt more natural to me to do alternating dribbles rather than dribbling both balls in unison.”
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Michael stumbled a couple of times during his run, but managed to recover the balls and keep going.
“I knew that a world record was on the line so I had to recover quickly, keep calm, not panic, and not lose my composure,” he said.
“I was really hoping to break eight minutes, but I was excited to be able to break the record with time to spare!
“My kids were so excited. They were so proud to tell their friends that their dad was a world record holder.”
Michael isn’t ruling out breaking more records in the future, admitting he loves a challenge.