At a Christmas family gathering in December last year, Dwan Young’s family surprised her with the Guinness World Record certificate, officially naming her as the record holder.

Young, who lives in Utah, USA, has been skiing for more than 60 years, trying her hand at the sport when she was 29 years old. Since then, she along with her family have been skiing at the family cabin at Bear Lake.

Speaking with KSL TV, Young said her granddaughter Becca contacted the Guinness World Records to see if her grandmother was eligible for the title. Then, at Christmas, the family presented her with the award.

“I thought it was a joke,” she said.

While Young has been skiing for years, she said it was her family that helped her transition from skiing on two skis to the slalom, which is no easy feat for anyone, let alone a 92-year-old.

“My kids kept saying, ‘Grandma, bend your knees! Keep your arms straight and let the boat pull you out!’” Young said.

“Now, at my age, I’m getting out of the water on two and just dropping one.”

Water skiing isn’t the only sport Young plays, and she doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

“Actually, I’m still playing tennis twice a week, and I’m doing water aerobics in the winter,” she said.

While her grandkids want their grandmother to give surfing a go, Young is happy to stick with what she knows.

‘What an honour.’

Since 1961, Dwan Young, who is originally from Salt Lake City, has been water skiing. But she admitted to Guinness World Records last month that she still gets nervous before a ski.

“I always get butterflies before I get in the water,” Young said. “In the water, I feel excited.”

Young was thrilled to receive the record certificate from her family, which was totally unexpected for the 92-year-old.

“I could not believe it. I still can’t believe it,” Young said. “What a surprise and what an honour.”

These days, Young only skis in Bear Lake, where the family summer cabin is. But she told Guinness World Records that if she could ski anywhere in the world, Lake Geneva in Switzerland is her dream spot.

For anyone wanting to have a go at something new, Young said your age should not matter.

“Do not be afraid to try a new sport when you are older,” she said.

“You are more capable than you think.”

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She completed the feat at the Rubik’s Cube International Open in Singapore with a time of 5.97 seconds for solving the 3x3x3 Cube. 

From east China’s Jiangsu Province, Qixian first started to learn how to solve the puzzle when she was three years old. Her parents even got her a coach to continue practicing the skill. 

“It was beyond my wildest expectations that she set the world record at such a young age,” her mother said following the tournament. 

“Truthfully, I felt like we were living in a dream for a couple of days after returning home.”

Qixian’s coach, Wang Yinhao called her a “gifted speed cuber” and said he’s “happy for her”. 

Qixian, herself, said she enjoys speed cubing and has “been practicing two to three hours a day every day”. 

First hitting stores in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, the Rubik’s Cube was invented by Hungarian architect Ernő Rubik. 

The mental sport has been growing steadily since then and the speedcubing community is now global, with over a dozen different competitions held around the world on any given weekend. 

While Qixian’s age of six-years-old is still an outlier, a senior delegate for the United States and Canada at the World Cube Association Matthew Dickman spoke to NPR earlier this year to say that “the competition skews younger than it did 10 years ago”. 

“Today, most registrants are around 12 to 15 years old.”

“They’re getting faster, too,” he said, adding that “contestants often edge out others within a miniscule .05 seconds.”

Other cubers have gotten creative with the puzzle by solving Rubik’s Cube with additional challenges– doing it underwater, blindfolded, on unicycles, while hula hooping and juggling. 

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Dorothy Hoffner from Chicago, Illinois, defied all odds to beat the previous Guinness World Record set in May 2022 by 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson from Sweden.

Hoffner completed the remarkable feat at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, approximately 140 kilometres south-west of Chicago in northern Illinois.

“Age is just a number,” the 104-year-old said as she landed after the skydive, the Chicago Tribune reported.

On Sunday, Hoffner ditched her walker for the skydiving kit and insisted on leading the tandem jump. She seemed completely at ease as she dove out of the plane and flew in freefall in the sky.

The dive lasted for seven minutes, her textbook landing met with a cheering crowd.

“It was wonderful up there,” she told reporters.

“The whole thing was delightful, wonderful, couldn’t have been better.”

Although Guinness World Records still list 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson’s jump as the record for the oldest tandem skydiver, WLS-TV reported that Skydive Chicago are working to have Hoffner’s jump certified as the new record.

Hoffner, who turns 105 in December, said her next adventure could be a ride in a hot-air balloon.

“I’ve never been in one of those,” she said.

In 2018, Australian skydiver Irene O’Shea broke the world record as the oldest skydiver at 102 years old. 

It was O’Shea’s third jump at the time, her first on her 100th birthday to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association SA, according to the Australian Parachute Federation. MND had taken the life of O’Shea’s daughter, inspiring her to become an active supporter for the charity.

In an episode of the ABC’s program You Can’t Ask That, O’Shea described her record-breaking tandem jump from 14,000 feet (4,267 metres) as a “remarkable”, “unbelievable” experience.

O’Shea passed away in 2022, aged 105 years and 356 days.

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Chavez new record for the fastest ascent to the top of the three highest mountains with supplementary oxygen (female) now stands at one year and 364 days.

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A las faldas del K2 se encuentra el Memorial a 5,200 metros, un lugar rocoso y arenoso cerca del campamento base del K2 que conmemora a los escaladores que han muerto en las peligrosas laderas de K2 y el Karakoram. El aire era ruidoso con el sonido de cuervos y las placas de metal chocando con la roca por el viento. Por donde volteras habian placas marcadas con los nombres de algunos de los escaladores que habian entregado su vida a la montaña y permanecen como guardianes ahí. . @gopromx @gopro K2 Pakistan July 2018 . #mountains #mountain #k2 #pakistan #karakoram #climbing #danger #respect #memorial #montaña

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The record also sees the 36-year-old becoming the first Latin American to conquer the top of K2, which is the second highest mountain in the world, at 8,611 metres. She also becomes the first woman from the American continent to climb the four highest mountains in the world, knocking down 4 of 7 of the seven peaks of each continent.

Chavez broke the record which had previously been held by Go Mi-Sun, a climber from South Korea who tragically died at the age of 41 in 2009 while ascending Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world, located in Pakistan. 

Chávez told CNN she has no issue with staying motivated and that mountaineering is about controlling what goes on in the mind. “The mind is everything” she said. “Mountains are the place I can challenge myself and know myself better.”

The self described alpinist, lecturer, entrepreneur and coach added that fear is a common battle she learns to manage.

“It’s not about not having fear,” she explained. “It’s about having fear and confronting the fear.”

In 2017, she told the Monterrey Institute of Technology that she sees mountaineering as, “A means for what I call self-conquest, where through physical, mental and spiritual tests, there is a search to find oneself and achieve fulfilment in life.”

Before tackling mountaineering – an area of extreme sports overwhelmingly dominated by men – Chávez took up running and competed in marathons. She completed in an ironwoman challenge before deciding to focus on mountaineering. 

Soon, she was reaching the top of Mexico’s highest mountain, Pico de Orizaba, which is 5,636 metres. In 2017, she reached the peak of Mount Everest in 42 days.

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K2 basecamp July 2018. This is what COVID has taught me: STOP, listen, observe, question yourself, define your goals, redefine if is necessary and be patience. Getting stronger and waiting for the moment to come back to the mountains Have a great week ————————————————— Esto es lo que COVID me ha enseñado: DETENTE, escucha, observa, cuestiona, define tus metas, redefine si es necesario y ten paciencia. Entrenando y esperando el momento correcto para volver a la montaña Que tengan una excelente semana! . #montaña #mountains #himalaya #k2 #pakistan #karakoram #mexico #climbing #trekking #montañas #mountain #training

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“I feel enormous satisfaction to have carried the flag of Mexico and my state of Aguascalientes to the top of the world,” she told reporters back in 2017. “Part of the satisfaction was shared with the pleasant surprise of having the support of thousands of people who were on the lookout and who had me in their prayers.” 

“I feel grateful, blessed and with a very deep social commitment. Having climbed to the highest point on the planet has given me a broader vision and has given me a platform to share the importance of values such as effort, determination and passion to all the young people of Mexico and the world. Inspiring them to fight for their dreams ”. 

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Don’t wake me up Let me keep dreaming K2 basecamp July 2018 . No me despierten Déjenme seguir soñando #K2 #dream #montaña #mountain #montañas #mountains #himalaya #pakistan #sueños

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Chávez has also since started an organisation called Lideres De Altura which aims to empower young women through transformational leadership and sharing her mountaineering experiences through conferences, courses and workshops. 

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