runch champion American Bill Evans, who is in the Guinness Book of World Records for doing 103,000 sit-ups in 24 hours. Freitas, who carried out the feat on a stage mounted in a busy street of Curitiba, the capital of southern Parana state, ate an energy bar and drank coconut milk every hour and was allowed a five minute toilet break every four hours.

Eleven physical education students counted each sit-up. He averaged about 77 sit-ups a minute. The achievement was the crowning glory of more than a year of training during which Freitas gradually heaved himself to new state and South American records. Tapes and documentation of the achievement will be sent to the Guinness Book of World Records in London to confirm his record. Reuters