HIGH HOPES: Russian woman who’s 6ft 9in with 52.4in legs aiming to be crowned ‘world’s tallest model’… and she wears size 12 shoes
Ekaterina Lisina, 29, is popular with men who are attracted to taller women and those with larger feet
By Lauren Windle 29th June 2017, Updated: 29th June 2017,
FORMER professional basketball player Ekaterina Lisina has a new target in her sights – being named the world’s tallest model.
Standing at 6ft 9in in her bare feet, Ekaterina, from Russia, has already been officially named the tallest woman in Russia.
After she retired from basketball, the leggy beauty launched a career in modelling 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.
“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 drawn her fans from all over the world – many of them men with a particular interest in taller “Amazonian” women or women with big feet.
Ekaterina doesn’t just count her lengthy legs among her achievements but she 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!”
“I think my long legs can definitely help my modelling 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 her catwalk dreams on hold.
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 modelling and basketball and of course there was no question because with basketball I had talent.”
As part of her successful career Ekaterina represented the Russia women’s team at the 2008 Olympics, where together they won Olympic bronze.
Given that Ekaterina’s parents were tall – her father is 6ft 5in and her mother 6ft 1in – Ekaterina was always expected 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 older brother Sergei Lisina, who himself measures 6ft 6in (2 metres), 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 gives her a huge advantage in a specific type of 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.
“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.”
But growing up, Ekaterina did find shopping for clothes a struggle.
She said: “It was very difficult for me to buy clothes and I knew I was different.
“I only really realised I was attractive when I was about 24 years old. I always had an athletic body and was always much taller than everyone else my age.
“But then I realised that being tall is very attractive and that I got a lots of attention from men. I am so comfortable with my body now.”
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.”