Teacher with record-breaking memory skills goes underwater to test his limits
Holding his breath beneath the water, memory master Christian Schäfer (Germany) furiously scrolled through a long list of numbers on a mobile phone screen, doing his best to remember each one.
And after he surfaced, he managed to reel off an impressive 87 figures to claim the title for most decimal digits memorized underwater.
That’s not the teacher’s only record either.
Christian, who is featured in Guinness World Records 2027, has also claimed records for longest sequence of coins memorized with 250 and the most phone numbers recalled in three minutes: 11.
Outside of memory challenges, Christian has also shown off his lung power – handy for holding your breath underwater – by achieving the fastest time to blow a stamp 100 m in 3 min 3 sec and the fastest time to blow a stamp 1 mile in 1 hr 57 min 38 sec.
The 34-year-old said: “I find it incredibly exciting to push and expand the limits of human capability time and time again. I know this from the world of memory sports, where people constantly set new records that seemed absolutely impossible just a while ago.
“For me, it's just a huge thrill to test myself, find new challenges, and try to become better in a specific discipline than anyone has ever been before.”
Explaining his love of numbers, he added: “I really love memorizing numbers. I'm quite good at it because I use a specific system that I’ve completely internalized. I usually do well in the number events at memory competitions, so it's always a lot of fun for me.
“By the way, that has nothing to do with me being a math teacher - people often think having mathematical skills gives you an edge, but it’s actually all about creativity!”
Christian says he’s fascinated by combining mental and physical performance.
“On one hand, you have the mental challenge of memorizing a lot of data, and at the same time, you're on a ticking clock due to the lack of oxygen underwater,” he said.
“Balancing these two conflicting factors - the time you actually need to memorize numbers versus the time limit imposed by holding your breath - is what I find so appealing.”
Read about more records like this in our Hobbies and Skills section.
For his new record, Christian wasn’t allowed to look at the list of numbers until he was fully submerged underwater.
He was allowed to stay underneath for as long as he could hold his breath, but the moment he surfaced he had to stop looking at the numbers.
Then, he had to recall as many digits as possible in the right order. The count stopped the second he made a mistake.
Christian said: “The challenge of memorizing numbers underwater was completely different from the last time when I won the TV show [Guinness World Records - Die große Show der Weltrekorde] with the phone numbers. The stress levels came from two completely different directions.
“On the TV show, I knew that a huge number of people were watching me right then, and it just had to work in that exact moment - both for the audience in the TV studio and the people watching live at home. That record was also a much longer process. I had two hours to memorize the phone numbers, and then I had to recall as many as possible within a three-minute window.
“With the underwater number record, the setting was much smaller. But in return, I was in a completely unfamiliar environment by being underwater! On the TV show, I could at least face the challenge 'on land,' so to speak.
“What both records definitely had in common was that, performance-wise, they were brand new challenges that no one had ever done before. And, of course, there was never any guarantee that it would actually work. Both were difficult, and both were novel situations where it all comes down to pulling it off and delivering right in that exact moment. Honestly, that’s exactly what appeals to me about these records - the pressure of having to deliver right when it counts.”
For people hoping to improve their own memory skills, Christian has some advice.
He said: “Fundamentally, memory techniques are interesting for anyone who needs to learn things by heart. And they also really help you maintain your focus and prevent things like completely blanking out under pressure.
“Basically, all these techniques revolve around turning the information you want to remember into images. A lot of the things we need to memorize are abstract - like phone numbers, definitions, lists, or even arguments for or against something. But if you turn that information into images and creatively weave them into a story, or place them along a route that you know really well, you can achieve incredible memory performance. It's simply because your brain can hold on to images much better than abstract information.”
Read about Christian and many more record holders in Guinness World Records 2027 – on sale worldwide now!