3:55pm UK, Wednesday July 06, 2005

A Mongolian has broken the record for the world's tallest living man, lurching in at a towering 7ft 8.95ins, or 2m 36.1cm.

Xi Shun, from the remote region of Inner Mongolia, is set to enter the pages of the Guinness World Records for his enormous stature.

180 world's tallest man Mongolian Xi Shun

Xi Shun - all 7ft 8.95ins of him

The new record-holder, whose mother was a mere 5ft 2in, was a normal height for his age until his mid-teens.

He shot up after reaching the age of 16, and has now beaten the previous title-holder, Tunisian-born Radhouane Charbib.

Charbib, at 7ft 8.9in, had held the record since 1999 and is now beaten by a whisker.

Xi Shun, 54, was certified as the new title-holder after being measured by Guinness World Record officials six times at Inner Mongolia's Chifeng City Hospital.

At 5ft 10in, Xi Shun's father was not exceptionally tall either, but doctors say his son's growth was natural, and not the result of a condition such as giantism or acromegaly, caused by too much growth hormone.

Guinness World Records editor Craig Glenday said: "Reaching this height naturally is getting close to the extremes of human existence - he's not quite reached the dizzying heights of tallest man ever, Robert Wadlow, who measured 8ft 11.1in - but he's close."