It's not Olympic gold, but Chris Neff is the world's top in spin tops. Again.
The local yo-yo/spin top expert took first place over the past weekend in the spin top contest at the 2016 World YoYo Contest in Cleveland. He also won in 2011 and in 2010, just one year after he started getting serious about the hobby/sport.
The field of competitors wasn't large. Of the 1,200 attendees, just nine entered the spin top competition. But it included top competitors from Japan, Mexico and elsewhere.
His winning performance is on YouTube at youtube.com/watch?v=gQJJG4pQjEc.
Competitors have three minutes to perform a trick-filled routine with a spin top. They often wind a string around the top, then throw the top downward while holding onto one end of the string. The string spins the top as it unwinds, eventually releasing the top, which falls to the ground. The inertia caused by the spinning motion balances the top on its tip.
Then, competitors use the string to pick up the top and perform tricks while it spins on the string. The key to keeping the top spinning is to use the string to "regenerate" its speed.
Neff used two unconventional tactics: Rather than winding the string around the top at the start, he used a "snap start" - using his hands to start the rotation. Also, rather than pausing to increase the top's spinning like other competitors, he incorporated the regeneration into the tricks in his routine.
Throughout the routine, he controlled his large, custom-made top with precision, weaving it under his legs, behind his back, onto the ground and back on the string.
The three-judge panel awarded points based on trick difficulty. Competitors can continue earning points for the same trick up to three times. His final score was 95.3 out of 100.
"Some of the players were practicing (earlier), and they looked really good," Neff said. "But I didn't know how they'd be able to execute on stage. But when I got done, the moment I got done, I knew I had won because I didn't have any major errors."
Neff had practiced regularly for months before the competition, if only for short periods at a time.
"I had developed a strong routine just for shows, and it was an excuse to take it to the next level," he said. "I only got about 10 minutes a night, after everything."
Everything, meaning his full-time job as an estimator at Lage's Cabinet Shop and his family commitments. He and his wife, Jenny, have two children: Eli, 9, and Charlie, 3.
Jenny Neff commended him in a Facebook post not only for his accomplishment but for his family commitment.
"I'd like to congratulate our own hometown #1 WORLD CHAMPION at Spin Tops, Chris Neff, who managed to bring home that title while working full-time to support his little family and helping me raise two little boys," she wrote. "He also fixes everything that breaks, does the laundry, helps do the dishes and the shopping, plays in and helps run the local disc golf league"
He also was part of a world-record attempt with about 2,000 other people for the most people YoYoing at a time. It hasn't yet been determined whether the attempt will become a record, Neff said.