Window cleaning world cup won by American with 17.02-second time

An American beat the British window cleaning world record holder to win the first-ever window cleaning world cup.

Jeremiah Hickey cleaned three windows in 17.02 seconds to claim the £1,000 first prize in the inaugural competition, held as part of The Cleaning Show at London’s Excel convention centre.

Competitors were given nine litres of water and a 300mm squeegee and tasked with cleaning three office-style windows, with time penalties awarded to those who left smears.

Mr Hickey beat competitors from across the globe, including Terry “Turbo” Burrows from Essex, who holds the current world record of 9.14 seconds, and Swedish champion Jimmy Strom, who came second.

Mr Hickey said he was “totally floored” by the victory.

“To hear my name as the winner at the end, I was totally floored,” the 42-year-old said.

“It’s different widows to what I’m used to, a different technique, so I’m really surprised.”

Mr Hickey runs On The Spot Window Cleaning California and became the fastest window cleaner in the US when he won the Speed Window Cleaning in San Diego earlier this year.

The competition was adjudicated by the Federation of Window Cleaners (FWC) and the Guinness World Records were also in attendance, but no new records were achieved.