Meet the world’s Tallest Model - 6ft 9in Record Chaser Goes From Basketball Court to Catwalk

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A former Olympic basketball medalist from Russia has a new goal in life - to be named the tallest model in the world .

Standing at 6ft 9in - without shoes on - Ekaterina Lisina has already been officially named the tallest woman in Russia.

After she retired from playing basketball , the leggy beauty launched a career in modeling and believes she is now the world’s tallest model.

Ekaterina said: “The record is held at the moment by Amazon Eve and she is 6ft 8in, which is smaller than me.



Ekaterina stands at 6ft 9in tall (Photo: Barcroft Media)
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“I really want to be in the book of world records as the world’s tallest model. I also think I have a chance to be awarded the world’s longest legs. My legs are around 52.4 inches, which is longer than the current record holder”.

The 29-year-old’s striking height has won her fans from all over the world - many of them men with a penchant for taller ‘Amazonian’ women or women with big feet.

As well as her exceptionally long limbs, Ekaterina has also been officially recognised as having the biggest feet of any woman in Russia with a european size 47, or a UK size 12.

She said: “I do like the attention and I hope after I get the title I am going to get even more attention!”



The 29-year-old has wanted to be a model since she was a teenager (Photo: Barcroft Media)


Ekaterina has already been named the tallest woman in Russia (Photo: Barcroft Media)
“I think my long legs can definitely help my modeling career because there aren’t so many models with such long legs.”

Ekaterina’s 52.4 inch pins also propelled her to great success as a professional basketball player.

At the age of 16, Ekaterina had to choose between pursuing her dreams of becoming a model and playing basketball. Already on the path to success with basketball, she chose the sport, putting on hold her catwalk dreams

She explained: “I wanted to be a model since I was 16-years-old but at that time I started my professional basketball career.

“Basically I had to choose between modeling and basketball and of course there was no question because with basketball I had talent.”



The Russian won bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (Photo: Barcroft Media)


"I had to choose between modeling and basketball" (Photo: Barcroft Media)
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Playing for various teams in the Russian Premier League, including CSKA Moscow and Dynamo Kursk, Ekaterina also represented the Russia women’s team at the 2008 Olympics, where she and her team won Olympic bronze.

Given that Ekaterina’s parents were tall - her father is 6ft 5in (198cm) and her mother 6ft 1in (188cm) - Ekaterina was always destined to reach great heights.

Her father Viktor Lisin reveals that they noticed from birth that their daughter was a lot taller than average.

He said: “When we were picking her up from the hospital we noticed right away that her legs were really long and her body mainly consisted of them.”


Ekaterina's parents were both tall (Photo: Barcroft Media)
Ekaterina’s older brother Sergei, who himself measures 6ft 6in, recalls his not-so-little sister being picked on by other kids at school.

He said: "I remember she was bullied a few times at school because she was the tallest and I had to show up there a couple of times.

“She realised quite quickly that it gave her a huge advantage in a sport which she started doing professionally almost straight away.

“So I don't think it was too uncomfortable for her. Also, because all of our family members are tall, not many of us felt uncomfortable about this fact.



Her legs are 52.4 inch long (Photo: Barcroft Media)


She is hoping to beat current world record holder Amazon Eve (Photo: Barcroft Media)
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“On the contrary, I think being tall is awesome, no doubts about that. If I had an option of adding on about four or five centimetres to my height I'd certainly agree to do that.”

The single mother-of-one says that carrying her son, who’s now six-years-old, made her love and appreciate her body like never before.

She said: “I think during pregnancy I developed curves and I started to feel so great about it.

“Before that, I always felt like I had a teenager’s body but now I feel so feminine and confident.

"I feel really comfortable in my body right now and I don’t have any problems being taller than everyone else. I love it.”

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