To be crowned the world’s best at something – from lowest roller skate limbo to longest under-ice free dive – is a huge achievement. What happens next?

Some people train their whole lives to earn a Guinness World Record. For others, picking one up is a happy accident. After all, the more than 40,000 records currently maintained by Guinness run the gauntlet from fastest marathon (an impressive 1hr 59min) to the largest number of hotdogs eaten in one minute (six, including the bun).

So what motivates someone to pursue a world record – and what happens to your life after you get one? To find out, we spoke to five record holders, past and present.