Lee Chong Wei has accomplished a lot of things; an Olympic silver medal, ranked number one in the world for 199 consecutive weeks, the first ever men’s shuttler to have won all Super Series titles, and now, he can add another feather to his cap: the world’s fastest badminton smash.
According to data supplied by Hawk-Eye Innovations, the 33-year-old’s missile at the 2015 Hong Kong Open – which he won, by the way – clocked in at a jaw-dropping 408km/h (!!), making it the most powerful smash in badminton since September.
What makes this feat more impressive is the fact that the LCW’s smash was very close to the top speed recorded by the world’s fastest production car; the Hennessey Venom GT hit 435.31 km/h during a test run.
Second in the list was Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen, who hit a 407km/h bullet in the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open this year.
Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, meanwhile, recorded the fastest smash for a female shuttler, clocking 372km/h in the semi-finals of the same tournament in Malaysia.
However, the current world number two’s effort was no where near the fastest smash ever recorded. Malaysia’s very own doubles player, Tan Boon Heong, hit the shuttlecock at a superhuman speed of 493km/h in 2013 – unofficially the greatest recorded speed for a projectile in any sport.
Man, we hate to be on the receiving end of one of those smashes.
