SA’s Johannes flips into Guinness World Records
A SOUTH AFRICAN man who broke a skateboarding world record said he did so to inspire children to follow their dreams. Jean-Marc Johannes broke the Guinness World Record in Cape Town for the most Nollie Heelflips in one minute.
A Nollie Heelflip is when a rider pops the skateboard at the nose end, kicking out the right foot spinning the board and after full rotation lands back on the board.
Johannes, who is also an international gold medallist and Fise Am World Series number one skateboarder, did 14 Nollie Heelflips in one minute at the Shred Skatepark in the Western Cape.
He easily passed the previous record which was eight Nollie Heelflips in 60 seconds.
“I attempted to break this record for South African skateboarding. When kids see this I hope to invoke a sense of confidence in them, so that they believe they can do anything; that was my ultimate goal,” he said.
Although Johannes made the nation proud with his new world record, he said: “Attempting to break the Nollie Heelflip record was one of the most fun and challenging things I’ve ever tried to do. It brought me back to where it all started, when I learnt it years ago and tried to lock it down every day.
“What makes it difficult (with a Nollie Heelflip) could be compared to being righthanded and having to swop to being left-handed.”
The skateboarder’s love for the sport began when he was 11 years old. He has since received several accolades such as debuting as the first South African on arguably the world’s most successful skateboarder Tony Hawk’s channel.
He also made skateboarding history when he successfully landed a 3-metre gap between two containers suspended 10m in the air.
More recently, Johannes successfully completed the biggest stunt of his career as part of the Red Heart Crew, when he crossed the never-skateboarded-before Liesbeek River with three back-to-back tricks.
He is also one of only three South African skateboarders qualified to compete on the international circuit, where he rides among the top 50 skaters in Europe.
As an action sports athlete, Johannes is considered one of the top 100 athletes globally.
He is the founder of a charity initiative “Fill the gap”, which provides motivational speeches and demos at schools internationally and locally.
He also runs a donation project called “Fill the box”, which has collected over 50 pairs of footwear in two months and has been awarded R10 000 by Engen to continue its drive.