Who was the world’s fastest typist?
Hi!
Barbara Blackburn (United States) has the official title of the fastest typist in the English language at 212 WPM, although other online computer-keyboard typists have clocked slightly faster times in the last few years. Michael Shestov has the current record for number-only typing, but the jury is out on who has the fastest and most error-free typing totals for full-keyboard typing around the world.
Best Regards,
Arella Bernales
Community Moderator at Typesy
Hey, @lillyrosegunn!
Check out these fun facts that I compiled in response to another post -
The fastest typist ever recorded was logged in the 1985 Guinness Book of World Records: Mrs. Barbara Blackburn of Salem, Oregon maintained a speed of 150 wpm for 50 min (37,500 key strokes) and her top speed was recorded at 212 wpm. Ironically, Barbara only learned to type after an unsatisfactory grade in typing class prevented her from graduating at the top of her class. Now, while Barbara’s 212 wpm is incredible, she was not using a QWERTY layout, so it’s difficult to know how her speed translates today.
Using another metric we could award Russian typist Michael Shestov. Michael can speak and type in 27 languages, averaging 160 wpm. How can this man type faster in non native languages than most people can in their first? Apparently by practicing over 8 hours every day!
With the variety of keyboards out there, it’s difficult to compare these record holders. That’s why there is now an online competition: The Ultimate Typing Championship. Utilizing the QWERTY keyboard, the current record holder is Sean Wrona, who is recorded to have typed at a top speed of 256 wpm.
Hope those quenched your thirst for typing knowledge!
Regards
Alex (The Reimagined Classroom Teacher)