Best of Boston

Boston’s undisputed king of aerial acrobatics, Frederick “Flips” Richard, the Stoughton-bred Olympic bronze medalist, just flipped into the record books— literally. In May, he spent 24 hours doing 1,111 consecutive backflips to shatter the previous Guinness World Record of 1,001. Between his Paris Olympics podium finish and this gravity-defying marathon (doubling as a fundraiser for underprivileged young gymnasts in Africa), Richard has officially claimed his throne as the area’s premier human helicopter. Fun fact: He broke the record the same day he first became an uncle. Talk about sticking the landing.