23 world records you didn’t know Croatia holds

World’s longest sarma presented in Vidovec, Croatia (Photo: Vjeran Zganec Rogulja/PIXSELL)

The Guinness Book of World Records lists world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world.

The Guinness World Records have become the primary international authority on the cataloging and verification of a huge number of world records.

There have been a number of records broken by Croatians or in Croatia. Here are 23 of them:

1. Longest Lines of Strudel

The old record for the longest line of strudels was 1,479.38 m (4,853 ft 7 in)  achieved by The Green Heart of Croatia (Croatia), in Jaškovo, Croatia, on 6 September 2015. Croatian bakers ‘Mlin i pekare’ in Sisak, which is southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, broke that record in June when they made an apple strudel which measured 1,762,45 metres in Sisak.

Record apple strudel (Photo: Nikola Cutuk/PIXSELL)

2. Longest Moonwalk (Distance)

The greatest distance moonwalked in one hour is 5.7 km (3.54 miles) and was achieved by Krunoslav Budiselic (Croatia) at Mladost Stadium in Zagreb, Croatia, on 12 October 2009. Mr. Budiselić moonwalked 12 laps of 455 m (1,492.78 ft) plus 240 m (787.4 ft), breaking his previous record of a total of 5.255 km (3.265 miles).

3. Fastest Quarter Mile by an Electric Car

The fastest 1/4 mile by an electric car is 11.850 sec, achieved by Mate Rimac (Croatia) driving a modified BMW M3 E30, at ETC, Velika Gorica, Croatia, on 17 April 2012. Rimac’s BMW has been equipped with a 440 kW electric motor powered by batteries rated at 24 kWh. At the 1/4 mile marker, the car was travelling at a speed of 122.23 kmh (75.949 mph).

4. Longest Open Sea Swim

The longest distance ever swum without flippers in the open sea is 225 km (139.8 miles) by Veljko Rogošić (Croatia) across the Adriatic Sea from Grado to Riccione (both Italy) from 29-31 August 2006. The attempt took him 50 hours 10 mins.

5. Largest Painting

The largest painting measured 10,800 m² (116,250 ft²) and was created by Ðuka Siroglavic (Croatia) in Bol, Brac, Croatia, between 15 February – 15 July 2007.

6. Largest Box of Popcorn

The largest box of popcorn was achieved by Cineplexx (International) with a volume of 52.59m³ (1857 ft³), which was filled in 1 hour and 57 minutes at an event outside Avenue Mall in Osijek, Croatia, on 16 April 2011. The event was organised by Cineplexx (International) to celebrate the opening of two new Malls, complete with two new Cineplexx cinemas in Croatia.

7. Largest Collection of Non-Sporting Cards

The largest collection of non-sports trading cards belongs to Edo Rajh and Iva Rajh (both Croatia), consisting of 20,000 cards as of 18 November 2011 and is housed in Zagreb, Croatia. The collection started in 2006 with Magic: the gathering cards and their favourite trading cards are from the World Wildlife Fund.

8. Largest Collection of Panda-Related Items

The largest collection of panda-related items belongs to Edo Rajh and Iva Rajh (both Croatia), consisting of 1,966 different WWF stamps, in Zagreb, Croatia, as of 2 April 2012.

9. Greatest Distance on Single Fuel Tank

The greatest distance driven on a single standard tank of fuel is 2,545.80 km (1,581.88 miles) by a Volkswagen Passat 1.6 TDI BlueMotion, in an event organized by ‘Auto Motor i Sport’ (Croatia). It was driven by Marko Tomac and Ivan Cvetkovic (both Croatia) within Croatia, between 27 and 30 June 2011. Only Croatian roads were taken during the attempt. The average consumption amounted to 3.08 l/100 km (91.71 UK mpg, 76.37 US mpg).

10. Largest Appendix Removed

The longest appendix measured 26 cm (10.24 in) when it was removed from 72-year-old Safranco August (Croatia) during an autopsy at the Ljudevit Jurak University Department of Pathology, Zagreb, Croatia, on 26 August 2006. Ivana Pavic performed the autopsy and Alma Dubravic attended.

11. Largest Slanina

(Photo: Davor Javorovic/PIXSELL)

The new record slanina (pancetta) weighed 194 kg was made by a team of four friends from Valpovo in Slavonia. The slanina was presented at the spring festival in Karanac in April 2019 at the ‘Spring vasar’ in Karanac.

According to Guinness World Records, the largest slanina (pancetta) in the world was previously 150.5 kg, It was made in Italy and presented at the town’s Old Saviours Day Festival in 2002.

12. Longest Neck Tie

A necktie measuring 808 m (2,650 ft) was made by members of the Academia Cravatica organisation. It took five days to complete and was tied around the arena in Pula, Croatia on 18 October 2003. Widest part – 25m. Narrowest part – 8m.

13. Largest Hand Drill (non-powered)

The largest non-powered hand drill measures 15.15 m (49 ft 8 in) long and the handle is 10.3 m(33 ft 9 in) wide. It was created by Miljenko Mustapic (Croatia), and was presented and measured in Imotski, Croatia, on 12 March 2011. The drill is an outsized replica of an existing traditional hand drill.

14. Largest Torchlit Image Formed by People

The largest torchlit image was formed by 4,013 participants, achieved by Sonitus Association, Tourism Office Pula and Archeological Museum of Istria (all Croatia) in Pula, Croatia, on 9 May 2015. The attempt took place inside the Roman amphitheater in Pula, Croatia.

15. Largest Sarma

World’s longest sarma presented in Vidovec (Photo: Vjeran Zganec Rogulja/PIXSELL)

In September 2018 at the Zeljarijada festival in Vidovec in the northern Croatian Varaždin County the record for the longest sarma was set when a gigantic 1,333-metre sarma was made.

Among other bits and pieces, there were 1,200 cabbage heads (22,000 leaves) to be exact, over 300 kilograms of boneless beef, 410 kilograms of boneless pork, 75 kilograms of dried sausages and 105 kilograms of rice.

16. Most Pull-Ups in a Minute

Sebastian Mendiković (photo: Instagram)

Croatian fitness trainer Sebastian Mendiković entered the Guinness Book of World Records after breaking a pull up record last year.

Mendiković, who is from Rijeka on Croatia’s northern Adriatic coast, broke the current record of 23 pull-ups in a minute with a resistance of 27 kgs by pumping out 25. The record took place at the Summer Fitness Festival in Labin in front of a large crowd and 2 official Guinness judges.

17. Most Rear Pull-Ups in a Minute

Sebastian Mendikovic (Instagram)

Mendiković broke another record earlier this year.

Mendiković broke the Guinness World Record for the most number of rear pull-ups in a minute on Sunday when he completed 32. The current record was 27.

18. Most Aces Served in a Davis Cup Match

The most aces served in a Davis Cup match is 78 by Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) in his match against Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) at Porec, Croatia, on 18 September 2009. Karlovic lost the match 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 7-6, 14-16.

19. Fastest Time to Push a Car One Mile

The fastest time to push a car weighing 1,880 kg (4,144 lb 11 oz) a distance of one mile (1.609 km) is 15 min 21 sec and was achieved by Mario Mlinaric (Croatia) on the set of The Strongest Farmer TV show in Zagreb, Croatia, on 12 June 2009.

20. Fastest Row (Double Sculls)

The fastest double sculls row by a male pair is 5 minutes 59.720 seconds and was achieved by Valent Sinković and Martin Sinković (Croatia) at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on 29 August 2014.

21. Record for Pushing a Car the Furtherest in 24 hours 

Tomislav during his world record push

In April 2019 in Zagreb, Tomislav Lubenjak broke the Guinness World Record for pushing a car the furtherest in 24 hours by an individual. He pushed a smart car and driver 106,938 km. In the process he also broke the world record for pushing a car by two people which was 95.07 km, set by Macedonians Aleksandar Chekorov and Alexsandar Smilkov.

22. Largest Bottle of Perfume

The largest bottle of cologne/perfume is 616.18 litres (135.54 UK gal, 162.77 US gal), and was achieved by Dejan Levačić (Croatia) in Čakovec, Međimurje, Croatia, on 22 January 2019.

The perfume is inspired by the history of gold rinsing in the region of Međimurje. The perfume bottle measured 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) in length, 0.82 m (2 ft 8 in) long and 0.46 m (1 ft 6 in) wide.

23. Longest Theatrical Run – Same Cast

The record for the longest run of a theatrical play with the same cast is for the play ‘Exercises in Style’ performed by Pero Kvrgic and Lela Margitic and directed by Tomislav Radic (all Croatia) from January 1970 to present. The opening night of this play was on 19 January 1968, but in 1970 the leading actress role passed from Mia Oremovic to Lela Margitic. There are no exact dates of this fact but it was on January 1970. The play is currently played on the Theater Planet Art in Zagreb. All the performances, from 1968, have taken place in Zagreb.

(Source: Guinness Book of Records)