Jaan Rooses crossed over 3.600 meters on a thin slackline, starting from the Italian mainland and ending in Sicily. The last few meters were particularly intense.
Slackline athlete and Hollywood stuntman Jaan Roose made history by becoming the first person to cross the Strait of Messina in Italy on a 3646-meter-long slackline.
Roose completed the crossing in almost three hours, beating the current world record distance of 2.710 metres. However, a fall in the final 80 metres prevented him from officially setting a new world record.
No official world record
The crossing began on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, in the mainland town of Villa San Giovanni. Roose ascended to the anchor point at Santa Trada, a 265-meter-high tower that overlooks the tallest building in Italy.
At 08:45 a.m. he stepped onto the slackline to begin his crossing. In front of him was a distance of over 30 football fields. The only connection point was a 1,9 centimeter wide band of woven fabric.
After overcoming the lowest section of the slackline, 100 meters above the water, Roose began the final section, climbing 130 meters to the Torre Faro in Sicily, which he reached at 11:42 a.m.
But just 80 meters from the end, Roose fell, invalidating a new world record under the sport's rules, which require a complete crossing without falls.
Record collector on the slackline
Jaan Roose, 32 years old and originally from Estonia, is a three-time slackline world champion and the only athlete to perform a double backflip on a slackline. He has set numerous world records and firsts, including the longest slackline in a single building in Qatar.
His abilities have been showcased in Hollywood films and live performances, such as Assassin's Creed (2016) and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), but crossing the Strait of Messina proved to be his most demanding challenge.
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Credits: Text Red Bull, cover image Red Bull Content Pool