It's totally incredible, but the French player Baptiste Carême did it ! With an original idea from Andreï Papetrowsky, who though that a very flexible racket could hit the shuttle like a whip (which break the sound barrier when swing) ask Babolat to build it. First, it was really hard to make a racket that flex enough without breaking in the shaft, so after 17 patents, it was nearly did fully in carbon nanotube. The shuttles were also modified as the exploded when were hit (almost the cork). First, the speed was measured near 800 km/h and after 3 weeks of training, at 1100 km/h. Then, Andreï advised that they should go in altitude. In Briançon (1473m), Baptiste hit the shuttle at the amazing speed of 1262 km/h (sound barrier is 1224 km/h). Thoses ultra-ultra-ultra (etc...) flexible rackets might not be allowed in competitions but the record is in validation by the BWF, and is just insane as the speed is incredible. Here is the original article (french): http://badiste.fr/news/le-badminton-franchit-le-mur-du-son-16.html PS: Sorry for this bad english !
