Skip to content
FastestThings

Badminton

Pearly Tan

Guinness fastest badminton hit (female): 438 km/h on 14 April 2023 at the same Yonex factory session. The same figure is 272.16 mph.

Also known as Tan Pearly
Post on X (opens in a new tab)

Ball speed

Published as 438 km/hPublished as 438 km/hPublished as 438 km/h

Guinness fastest badminton hit (female). Same controlled camera method and the same Yonex Tokyo Factory session as the men's record. 438 km/h is 272.16 mph.

OfficialGuinness World Records (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 4.2× a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
  • 1.3 football fields a secondConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)
  • London to New York in 12 h 43 minConstant · London to New York, 5,570 km great-circle

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

Mechanism

Why it's so fast

Pearly Tan's smash is a whip: arm, wrist and string bed accelerate a light shuttle that starts slowing down immediately. The ranked speed is at the hit, not at the other baseline.

  1. A light projectile

    The skirt of a shuttle catches the air on purpose. That is why the speed the radar sees at the racket does not survive the flight. The game is built on that deceleration.

  2. The timed smash

    Pearly Tan's figure is the smash the sources measured. A practice swing without a published reading is not added.

Nearby on this list: Tan Boon Heong.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 438km/h272mph122m/s237knRanked figure

    Guinness fastest badminton hit (female). Same controlled camera method and the same Yonex Tokyo Factory session as the men's record. 438 km/h is 272.16 mph.

    Official
    Guinness World Records (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Player
Pearly Tan
Record
Fastest badminton hit, female
Speed
438 km/h
Date
14 April 2023

Context

Background

Guinness records the fastest badminton hit by a woman as 438 km/h, also 272.16 mph, by Tan Pearly at the Yonex factory in Soka on 14 April 2023. The camera method is the same one used for the men's record that day. The Indian Express prints 438 km/h, about 272 mph. The Badminton Museum prints 272 miles per hour, 438 km per hour.

The row is the women's Guinness hit, not a match. It sits on the same list as the men's hits because both are shuttle speed just after impact in a certified attempt. 272.16 mph is the mile writing of 438 km/h.

Spot a wrong number?

Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.