- Who
- Emma Alam
- What
- 218 total number
- Where
- Pakistan (Karachi)
- When
On 19 December 2020, memory athlete Emma Alam (Pakistan) broke the record for putting names to faces by correctly spelling and recalling 218 at the 29th World Memory Championship. The contest was held from 18 to 20 December 2020 in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Competitors had 15 minutes to memorize as many names and faces as possible, and then a further 35 minutes to recall them.
In this contest, colour photographs of different people are provided (head and shoulder shots without backgrounds) with a first name and a second name printed underneath each picture. Names are assigned randomly to avoid competitors obtaining clues to the name by the ethnic origin of the face. Emma Alam was born in 2002 and started competing in memory contests at the beginning of 2019. She has competed in various national and world memory and mind-mapping championships. She holds the title of World Memory Champion 2020, having earned the highest accumulated points at that year's competition.
