The ultra sportsman Matthieu Bonne has started 2026 with another world record. The 30-year-old from the West Flemish coastal municipality of Bredene scored 22,118 free throws in the space of just 24 hours. This is more than 1,100 more than the previous world record of 21,001 free throws scored in the space of a day.
Matthieu Bonne began his world record attempt at 8pm on Sunday evening at Ostend Basketball Club. He told VRT Sport that he had been training for it for 2 or 3 months, during which he put on around 10kg in weight. “I had to build up the muscle in my upper body. I went to the physiotherapist and spent many hours training in the COREtec Dôme (the home of Filou Basketball Club Ostend ed.). My last training session lasted 10 hours. I trained every day, sometimes 2 times a day”, Matthieu Bonne told the VRT.
The previous world record of 21,001 free throws was set by the American Matt Bostic. By 6pm on Monday Matthieu Bonne had broken the record. He went on to score a further 1,116 free throws to set a new world record of 22,118 free throws in 24 hours.
After successfully completing his world record attempt Matthieu Bonne said that it had been harder than he had expected and that once he was home he intended to sleep for 24 hours.