Juggling world records explained

Juggling world records comprise the best performances in the fields of endurance and numbers juggling.

Criteria

For ratification as a world record, the claimed record

must be proved by video evidence, either available to the general public or
must be validated by organizations such as Guinness World Records

Up until 2012 any record must have been proved by either of the two methods above or by video evidence, available to the members of the former Juggling Information Service Committee on Numbers Juggling (JISCON).^[1] JISCON is no longer active.

Records begin where each object being juggled has been thrown and successfully caught at least once (e.g. 11 catches of 12 balls is not listed). This is known as a 'flash'. Where each object is thrown and caught more than once the term used is a 'qualify'.

Notes on defining the props

Balls, which include beanbags, must be roughly spherical objects.^[2]
Clubs, which include sticks and batons, must be long, roughly cylindrical objects.^[2]
Rings, which include plates and hoops, must be flat, roughly circular objects.^[2]
Bouncing balls must be bounced off a solid, flat, horizontal surface with just one bounce per ball between each throw and catch.

Solo juggling records

Props must be thrown individually from each hand, and counting of catches commences once all props bar one have been thrown. Multiplexing (throwing more than one prop at a time from the same hand) is not allowed. Catches are counted only for throws made while no props have been dropped. According to JISCON definition, a drop is "a failure to catch an object that, as a result, hits the ground or any foreign object. A drop is considered to have happened at the moment the object should have been caught or touched, not when it hits the ground."^[2]

Balls

Equipment	Record	Juggler	Year	Ref(s)
14 beanbags	14 catches	Alex Barron	2017
13 beanbags	15 catches	Alex Barron	2013
12 beanbags	20 catches	Alex Barron	2017
12 beanbags	20 catches	Tom Whitfield	2024
11 beanbags	34 catches	Tom Whitfield	2022
10 beanbags	51 catches	Tom Whitfield	2024
9 balls	55 s	Anthony Gatto	2006
8 balls	1 min 18 s	Enzo Nicolás Agüero	2023
7 balls	16 min 25 s	Adolfo Esteban Cardenas	2019
6 balls	30 min 46 s	Maximilian Kuschmierz	2023
5 balls	3 h 44 min 46 s	Bence Ónodi	2022
4 balls	3 h 03 min 13 s	Chris Smith	2023
3 balls	13 h 10 min	David Rush	2023	^[3]

Clubs

Equipment	Record	Juggler	Year	Ref(s)
9 clubs	11 catches	Eivind Dragsjø	2016
8 clubs	18 catches	Moritz Rosner	2023
7 clubs	4 min 24 s	Anthony Gatto	2005
6 clubs	7 min 38 s	Anthony Gatto	2005
5 clubs	53 min 21 s	Thomas Dietz	2005	Verified by JISCON
4 clubs	2 h 7 min 17 s	Caio Stevanovich	2023
3 clubs	5 h 1 min 51 s	Alexandr Inozemtzev	2022

Rings

Equipment	Record	Juggler	Year	Ref(s)
13 rings	13 catches	Albert Lucas	2002
12 rings	16 catches	Willy Colombaioni	2016	,
11 rings	21 catches	Lysenko Danila	2020
10 rings	47 catches	Anthony Gatto	2005
9 rings	50 s	Anthony Gatto	2005	,
8 rings	1 min 17 s	Anthony Gatto	1989	,
7 rings	15 min 6 s	Anthony Gatto	2011	(
6 rings	6 min 37 s	Eivind Dragsjø	2022
5 rings	58 min 22 s	Caio Stevanovich	2022
4 rings	1 h 20 min 55 s	Maximilian Kuschmierz	2022
3 rings	3 h 10 min 45 s	Maximilian Kuschmierz	2022

Bouncing

Force Bounce

Equipment	Record	Juggler	Year	Ref(s)
12 bounce balls	12 catches	Alan Šulc	2008	,^[4]
10 bounce balls	10 catches	Alan Šulc	2008	,
		Henrik Veres	2013
		Tony Garcia	2014
		David Enoch Sosman	2021	(Video on TikTok)
9 bounce balls	98 catches	Alan Šulc	2016
8 bounce balls	4 min 12 s	Alan Šulc	2011	,
7 bounce balls	2 min 15 s	David Nayer	2015
6 bounce balls	5 min 48 s	David Nayer	2016
5 bounce balls	59 min 30 s	David Nayer	2015

Lift Bounce

Equipment	Record	Juggler	Year	Ref(s)
11 bounce balls	12 catches	Eden Zak	2014
10 bounce balls	51 catches	Mathias Ramfelt	2017
9 bounce balls	40 s	Mathias Ramfelt	2017
8 bounce balls	1 min 14 s	Tyron Colombaioni	2016	(Video on Facebook)
7 bounce balls	11 min 20 s	Tyron Colombaioni	2016
6 bounce balls	6 min 43 s	Philippe Dupuis	2016
5 bounce balls	56 min 09 s	Liam Ryan-O'Flaherty	2019
4 bounce balls	2 hour 0 min 01 s	Bill Coad	2019
3 bounce balls	3 hours 45 min 13 s	Bill Coad	2019

Passing records

When passing, only the props thrown between two separate jugglers are counted. In some patterns (ultimates or one-count) all the throws are caught by the opposite juggler but in other patterns each juggler makes some throws to themselves. The reason for excluding self throws is that two jugglers could make a single pass to their partner and then go on to juggle solo patterns for as long as they wanted therefore undermining the record for 'passing'.

Balls

Equipment	Record	Juggler	Year	Ref(s)
22 balls	22 passes	Tom Whitfield & Dan Wood Tom Whitfield & Dave Leahy	2018 2019
21 balls	21 passes	Dave Leahy Dan Wood	2014
20 balls	27 passes	Tom Whitfield Dan Wood	2019
19 balls	25 passes	Tom Whitfield Dan Wood	2019
18 balls	29 passes	Tom Whitfield Dave Leahy	2019
17 balls	39 passes	Tom Whitfield Dave Leahy	2019
16 balls	47 passes	Peter Kaseman Doug Sayers	2015
15 balls	91 passes	Peter Kaseman Doug Sayers	2012
14 balls	22 seconds (195 passes)	Peter Kaseman Doug Sayers	2012	, ^[5]
13 balls	54 seconds (475 passes)	Ori Roth Ofek Snir	2016
12 balls	1 min 38 s (475 passes)	Daniel Ledel Luca Pferdmenges	2017
11 balls	5 min 5 s (1506 passes)	Daniel Ledel Luca Pferdmenges	2018

Clubs

Equipment	Record	Juggler	Year	Ref(s)
15 clubs	15 passes	Kaito Tanioka Kento Tanioka	2021	(Video on Instagram)
14 clubs	32 passes	Dominik Harant Manuel Mitasch	2020
13 clubs	31 s (102 passes)	Dominik Harant Manuel Mitasch	2022
12 clubs	28 s (101 passes)	Daniel Ledel Manuel Mitasch	2016
11 clubs	1 min 17 s (246 passes)	Julius Preu Daniel Ledel	2022
10 clubs	4 min 00 s (808 passes)	Dominik Harant Daniel Ledel	2017
9 clubs	7 min 1 s (1392 passes)	Christoph Mitasch Manuel Mitasch	2007

Rings

Equipment	Record	Juggler	Year	Ref(s)
18 rings	19 passes	Dominik Harant Manuel Mitasch	2015	.
17 rings	21 passes	Dominik Harant Manuel Mitasch	2020
16 rings	32 passes	Dominik Harant Manuel Mitasch	2020
15 rings	52 passes	Thomas Dietz Dominik Harant	2018	Video on Instagram
14 rings	59 passes	Dominik Harant Manuel Mitasch	2013
13 rings	23 seconds (171 passes)	Thomas Dietz Dominik Harant	2015
12 rings	1 min 22 seconds (300 passes)	Dominik Harant Manuel Mitasch	2020
11 rings	2 min 44 s (1201 passes)	Thomas Dietz Dominik Harant	2015

Notes

Web site: List of Numbers Juggling Records . Juggling Information Service Committee on Numbers Juggling (JISCON) . February 12, 2011 .
Web site: Numbers Juggling Rules & Definitions . Juggling Information Service Committee on Numbers Juggling (JISCON) . October 16, 2009 .
Web site: Longest duration juggling three objects . 21 July 2023 . Guiness World Records . Guiness World Records.
Web site: Official Bounce Juggling World Records . The Bounce Page . https://web.archive.org/web/20130518042037/http://www.bouncepage.com/records.htm. May 18, 2013.
In 2012, Chris Hodge and Andrew Hodge set the 14 ball passing record for a 2-count pattern. The 199 catches mentioned in that video include self-throws (an alternate counting method used by the IJA).

External links

JISCON the Juggling Information Service Committee on Numbers Juggling