GREENSBORO, N.C. — Princeton University students have broken a world record in electric power boating by going 114 mph on Lake Townsend in Greensboro.

What You Need To Know

  • Princeton University students broke the world water speed record for an electric-powered boat in Greensboro

  • Princeton’s electric speedboating team set the world record of 114 mph on Lake Townsend in Greensboro

  • Lake Townsend is the largest municipal reservoir in the country

Andrew Robbins is the captain of Princeton’s electric speedboating team. He and his crew have been preparing all week for this accomplishment.

“Very excited. I mean, it's been a long time coming, almost 18 months now from when we started this project. So it's awesome to see it all come together,” Robbins said.

Doing a Wednesday dress rehearsal on the Carolina Marina, the team made sure all things went smoothly.

“It’ll end up being the world record. Technically, it may be classified as a American national record, get sanctioned under the American Power Boating Association,” Robbins said.

Thursday, they were the only team attempting to break the world water speed record for an electric-powered boat. Aiming for the 115-mph-plus category on Lake Townsend in Greensboro.

“I mean in some respects, definitely an honor. It's incredibly cool that we're able to compete at this level with the teams that we're competing against. Vision Marine, the current record holders, are an incredible group, and they've set the bar for this category,” Robbins said.

Lake Townsend in Greensboro is the largest municipal reservoir in the country.

Princeton’s team beat the previous record of 88 mph.