It’s been a momentous year for some of the world’s most ambitious athletes, collectors, cooks, and event organizers. More than 1,200 new world records were inked so far this year, according to news releases by the Guinness World Records. In the last few weeks, Americans have recorded the largest open- faced sandwich (2,359 pounds), most people dressed like a turkey (38,000) and the biggest cheese sculpture (925 pounds). From the fastest marathon to the most number of Lady Gaga impersonators, see other great achievements in world records this year.
Record: 87 feet, 8 inches (size 1222B)
Record setter: Reckitt Benckiser
Location: London
Date: Oct. 28
National News / Getty Images
Record: $736 million
Record setter: U2
Location: Sao Paolo
Date: April 10 (date surpassed previous record by Rolling Stones)
Mike Coppola / Getty Images
Record: 2 hours, 3 minutes, 38 seconds
Record setter: Patrick Makau
Location: Berlin
Date: Sept. 25
Don Emmert, AFP / Getty Images
Record: 1 foot, 3 inches (left) and 1 foot, 2.76 inches (right)
Record setter: Brahim Takioullah
Location: Paris
Date: Oct. 8
Bertrand Guay, AFP / Getty Images
Record: 4,488 participants
Record setter: University of California, Irvine
Location: Irvine, Calif.
Date: Sept. 21
Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register / Newscom
Record: 357 women
Record setter: Event was sponsored by The Surfers Paradise Alliance and the Gold Coast Bulletin
Location: Surfers Paradise, Australia
Date: Oct. 3
Murray Rix, AFP / Getty Images
Record: 363 photos, including pics with Kristen Stewart, Kim Kardashian, and Barbara Walters
Record setter: Lucky, the pooch of Animal Fair Media founder Wendy Diamond
Location: n/a
Date: Nov. 17
Skip Bolen, WireImage / Getty Images
Record: 70 years, 4 months
Record setter: Roger Appsopp
Location: Swam from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 17 hours, 51 minutes
Date: Aug. 30
Gareth Fuller, PA / Landov
Record: 47 feet high, 68 feet 7 inches long, 37 feet 9 inches wide
Record setter: M&M’s, in honor of the first birthday of M&M’s pretzels
Location: New York
Date: Aug. 4
Stan Honda, AFP / Getty Images
Record: 64 cubic feet
Record setter: Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority
Location: Las Vegas
Date: Nov. 11
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority
Record: 5.26 seconds
Record setter: Eduard Saakashvili, age 15 (son of Georgia’s president)
Location: Batumi, Georgia
Date: July 5
Irakly Gedenidze, AFP / Getty Images
Record: 2,053 models of clowns
Record setter: Ortrud Kastaun
Location: Essen, Germany
Date: Oct. 30
Wenn / Newscom
Record: 48 hours, 26 minutes
Record setter: Robin H.M. (tattoo artist) and Jeff Garton
Location: Norwalk, Ohio
Date: April 17
Liz Pearce., Mirrorpix / Newscom
Record: 100 marriage-vow renewals
Record setter: Lauren and David Blair
Location: Hard Rock Café in Honolulu
Date: Oct. 2
Akhtar Hussein / Getty Images
Record: 4,078,988
Record setter: Ray William Johnson, “just a regular guy with an entertaining hobby.”
Date: July 12
Record: 268 feet, 4 inches
Record setter: Jose Castelar Cueto
Location: Havana, Cuba
Date: May 3
Desmond Boylan, Reuters / Landov
Record: 391.9 ppm
Record setter: n/a
Location: measurement taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii
Date: January
Saul Loeb, AFP / Getty Images
Record: 121 impersonators
Record setter: E! Entertainment
Location: 2011 Grammy Awards, in Los Angeles
Date: Feb. 13
Daniel Roland, AFP / Getty Images
