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A Chinese boy who measures well over 7 feet tall is set to officially become the tallest male teenager in the world. 14-year-old Xiaoyu, from Leshan City in the southwestern province of Sichuan, measured 221cm (7.25 feet) on his birthday on October 18, according to national newspaper New.
A Red Star News journalist, who was asked to be one of the officials who confirmed the boy's height, reported that the teen was so large that he even needed to have special furniture made. This includes a desk and chair that he can fit in so he can study. Xiaoyu’s grandmother Wu Mei told the newspaper: "He has grown a lot taller in the past two years."
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In June 2018, when the RSN reporter first came to meet the boy, he was still in the sixth grade of elementary school, measuring 206 cm (6.59 feet) tall. At the time, the youth expressed his wish to challenge the Guinness World Record and become the world's tallest teen.
In August this year, Xiaoyu and his family submitted the application for the challenge 'Tallest Youth (Male)' on the official Guinness website. He said: "Since I have entered school, I have noticed that I am taller than the other kids at my age. "Many students were mistaking me as a fellow from the senior generation. That did disturb me but I decided to make it something positive by applying to Guinness to see if I could get the world record."
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Lu Lei, a World Records certification officer, later came to Leshan to certify Xiaoyu's challenge to the title. In addition to the officer, Leshan People's Hospital doctor Li Song and the Red Star journalist participated in the measurement and acted as witnesses for the record application. Mr Lei said: "The challenger must be male and aged between 13-18.
"At the moment the former holder of the Guinness World Record is over 18 years old." But, he added that the comparison was not relevant as the new challenger is much younger. In order to make sure they had the measurement exactly correct, the officials measured him three times in the morning, at midday and in the evening. After the measurement certification was completed it was sent to London to be audited at the Guinness headquarters, and once confirmed, Xiaoyu is expecting to become the new world record holder.
