Diabolo

A diabolo is a prop consisting of a "spool" or "two-headed top" that is manipulated using a string attached to two sticks, which are held in the hands.

The modern diabolo was developed and popularized by the French engineer Gustave Phillippart and the English athlete C. B. Fry in the early 20th century. An earlier form of this prop, the Chinese yo-yo, has existed at least since the 17th century.

1 diabolo[]

EJC2011_Arata_Vertax — EJC2011 Arata Vertax

1 diabolo vertax routine by Arata Urawa

To manipulate a diabolo on a string, you need to keep it balanced by spinning it. As long as the diabolo is spinning fast enough, it will stay balanced on the string. The simplest way to increase the diabolo's speed of rotation is by repeatedly lifting one of the handsticks while providing slack with the other, making the diabolo roll across the string.

The IJA has had a 1 diabolo performance competition as part of the Individual Prop competitions since 2004. The first winner of that competition was Ryo Yabe.

2 diabolos[]

2diabolo_24_Arata — 2diabolo 24 Arata

2 diabolo sequence by Arata Urawa

Two or more diabolos can be juggled on a single string, usually in a circular pattern. There are two kinds of basic patterns for juggling multiple diabolos: High patterns, where the diabolos are individually caught on the string and then thrown high, and low patterns (called shuffles), where there can be more than one diabolo on the string at once.

The unofficial world record for 2 diabolos low (video sped up too much to verify) is 1 hour by Jannis Kaske.

Other people who have done 2 diabolos low for over 10 minutes:

Ivan Carrasco - 43:27
Kristian Scharling Jørgensen - 32:04
Matias Auramo - 23:00
Austin Bruckner - 17:38
Emil Lamprecht - 16:32
Joshua Weiner - 15:54
mrjuggles - 14:28
Mark Douglass - 11:30

3 diabolos[]

3_Diabolo_tricks_by_Ofek_Shilton — 3 Diabolo tricks by Ofek Shilton

3 diabolo tricks by Ofek Shilton

The world record for 3 diabolos high is 1 hour, 24 minutes, and 23 seconds by Guillaume Karpowicz.^(video)

Other people who have done 3 diabolos high for over a minute:

Jose Concha - 30:00^{(video no longer available)}
Pieter Slachmuylders - 5:43^(video)
Aaro Kontio - 5:30^(claim)
Tony Frebourg - 3:20^(claim)
Urawa Shin - 2:28^(claim)
Yosuke Meguro - 2:02^(claim)
Tomohiro Morita - 1:10^(claim)

The world record for 3 diabolos low is 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 48 seconds by Damian Kubitzki.^(video) The unofficial record for 3 diabolos low is 1 hour and 40 minutes by Panshito de Oro.^(claim)

Other people who have done 3 diabolos low for over a minute:

Shunichi Kobayashi - 1:29:20^(claim)
Yuki Kojima - 1:11:11^(claim)
Sebastian Haushofer - 30:00^(claim)
Ryo Yabe - 10:00+^(claim)
Kimiaki Yamamoto - 8:07^(claim)
Sylvestre Dewa - 5:30^(claim)
Janion Nevill - 1:55^(claim)
Austin Bruckner - 1:30^(claim)
Martin Rolletmeheust - 1:15^(video)

Multiple diabolos can be juggled in siteswap patterns, where a 0 represents a pause with an empty string (making time to do a 360 or jump rope with the string), a 1 is a pause with a diabolo on the string (making time to do a sun), and 2, 3, 4 etc. are increasingly high throws.

4 diabolos[]

The world record for 4 diabolos high is 15 minutes and 52 seconds by Guillaume Karpowicz.^(video)

Other people who have done 4 diabolos high for over 100 catches:

Jose Concha - 8:59^(video)
Stevie Caveagna - 3:45^(video)
Pieter Slachmuylders - 2:11^(video)
Akira Fukagawa - 1:08^(video)
Tony Frebourg - 179 catches;^(video) 4:17^(claim)
Lena Köhn - 161 catches^(claim)
Valerian Kapeller - about 120 catches^(claim)
Arata Urawa - 113 catches^(video)

The world record for 4 diabolos low is 8 minutes and 24 seconds by Ronnie Slowinski.^(video)

Other people who have done 4 diabolos low for over 100 catches:

Robin Spinelli - 3:17,^(video)
Yu-Sung Chao - 2:26^(video)
Jack Chen - 1:51^(video)
Kubo Yuichiro - 1:36^(video)
Sean Leow - 1:04^(video)
Yliang Chen - 204 catches^(video)
Ryoto Mitani - 204 catches^(video)
Ofek Shilton - 152 catches^(video)
Chloé Fossard - 104 catches^(video)

Tricks that have been done with 4 diabolos include:

Transition from high to low and back (video)
Mini columns (video)
Low 642 (video)
Low 62 (video)
Low around the leg 7333 (video)
One-handed shuffle (video)
Fountain (video)
High 7531 (video)
3 up 360 (video)
4 up 720 (video)

5 diabolos[]

Ryo Yabe was the first person to flash 5 diabolos high,^(video) and Tony Frebourg was the first to qualify it, getting 14 catches in 2007.^(video) Tony broke the world record with 20 catches^(video) and then 35 catches^(video) in 2008, 48 catches in 2010,^(video) and 51 catches in 2011.^(video) Ofek Shilton did 58 catches in 2011.^(video) Guillaume Karpowicz did 80 catches in 2017,^(video) 87 catches in 2018,^(video) and 122 catches later the same year.^(video) He set the current world record for 5 diabolos high in 2023, with a run of 241 catches.^(video)

Other people who have juggled 5 diabolos high:

Jose Concha - 77 catches^(video)
Stevie Caveagna - 60 catches^(video)
Akira Fukagawa - 54 catches^(video)
Pieter Slachmuylders - 30 catches^(video)
Kenta Hara - 27 catches^(video)
Michael Zorzan - 24 catches^(video)
Arata Urawa - 16 catches^(video)
Kaketo Tanioka - 10 catches^(video)
Lena Köhn - 10 catches^(claim)

Etienne Chauzy was the first person to flash 5 diabolos low, in 2010.^(video) In 2011, Robin Spinelli also flashed 5 diabolos low,^(video) and in 2013 Ronnie Slowinski broke the record with 6 catches.^(video) Later in 2013, Robin Spinelli posted a video showing 13 catches, and in 2014, a video from 2011 was uploaded, showing Robin doing 18 catches. In 2015, Robin Spinelli did 20 catches on video, and two days later, Ronnie Slowinski did 31 catches.^(video) Pen Zen did 47 catches in 2016.^(video) Liao Wang did 82 catches in 2017,^(video) and 130 catches later the same year,^(video) but his videos are no longer available. Ronnie Slowinski did 106 catches in 2018,^(video) and Pen Zen set the current world record for 5 diabolos low with a run of 221 catches in 2019.^(video)

Other people who have juggled 5 diabolos low:

Guillaume Karpowicz^(video)
Soon Yong Wei^(video)
Zhang Jun Huang^(video)

Tricks that have been done with 5 diabolos include:

High 645 for 6 rounds by Guillaume Karpowicz^(video)
High 753 for 3 rounds by Guillaume Karpowicz^(video)
High 97531 by Guillaume Karpowicz^(video)
High 5 up 360 to a qualify by Tony Frebourg^(video)
High behind the back flash by Stevie Caveagna^(video)
Low 645 for 2 rounds by Liao Wang^(video)
Low 663 by Liao Wang^(video) and Ronnie Slowinski^(video)
Low 744 by Ronnie Slowinski^(video)
Low 753 by Liao Wang,^(video) Pen Zen,^(video) and Ronnie Slowinski^(video)
Low 8642 for 3 rounds by Pen Zen^(video)
Low around the leg by Liao Wang^(video)and Pen Zen^(video)

6 diabolos[]

Pieter Slachmuylders did 7 catches of 6 diabolos high in 2012,^(video) and 9 catches in 2013.^(video) In 2016, Guillaume Karpowicz tied Pieter's record for 6 diabolos high,^(video) and also became the first person to flash 6 diabolos low.^(video) In 2018, Robin Spinelli broke the world record for 6 low with 7 catches,^(video) Guillaume Karpowicz broke the record for 6 high with 14 catches,^(video) and Pen Zen broke Robin's record for 6 low with 11 catches^(video) and then 19 catches.^(video) Pen did 36 catches in 2023,^(video) and set the current 6 diabolo low world record in 2024, with a run of 46 catches.^(video) Guillaume set the current record for 6 diabolos high in 2024, with a run of 31 catches.^(video)

Other people who have done at least a flash of 6 diabolos:

Kenta Hara - 13 catches^(video)
Ronnie Slowinski - 12 catches low^(video)
Tony Frebourg - 9 catches^(video)
Michael Zorzan - 7 catches^(video)
Stevie Caveagna - 6 catches^(video)

7 diabolos[]

7high_assisted_WR_-_10c — 7high assisted WR - 10c

7 diabolos high by Guillaume Karpowicz

Guillaume Karpowicz is the only person who has done at least a flash of 7 diabolos. He uploaded a video in 2024 showing three runs of 7 diabolos high with an assisted start, including the current world record of 10 catches, recorded in 2022.

(Note: For a catch to be counted in diabolo juggling, the diabolo may be thrown either from the string or from the diaboloist's hand, but it must be caught with the string.)

External links[]

Diabolo article on Wikipedia
Diabolotutorials.com - The largest collection of diabolo tutorials on the internet.
Diabolotricks.net
2diabolo.net
Artofdiabolo.com
Diabolofocus.com - Shop, forum, records, etc.
Diabolo Simulator - For animating siteswaps with diabolos