![]() “You guys watching think I’m crazy, but this is what I’m made for,” Wallenda was quoted as saying just after he began his first walk. “It’s all about pushing myself to become better at what I do and hoping to inspire others to become better at what they do,” Wallenda told the Discovery Channel, which broadcast the stunt in more than 220 countries. He completed the first walk in just under seven minutes and the second in slightly more than a minute, despite gusts of wind. Upon descending from the tightrope, Wallenda returned to Marina City west via the ground to complete his second and more dangerous feat: a tightrope walk to the east tower at more than 500ft (152m), blindfolded. In the first half of the stunt Wallenda, 35, walked more than two city blocks and crossed the Chicago River with a tightrope set at an incline of 19 degrees, between the Marina City west tower and the Leo Burnett Building. Wallenda, already the first person to cross the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls on a high wire, set records for the steepest tightrope incline and highest blindfolded walk as he stepped gingerly across the Windy City in mid-air. “I get goose bumps and chills thinking about it.US daredevil Nik Wallenda broke two world records on Sunday when he crossed the Chicago skyline on a tightrope suspended between three skyscrapers, without a safety harness. “My dream is to actually walk the wire with my great-grandfather,” he said. “I’ve trained a bit to do a headstand on the wire, but I’ve never done it publicly because I’ve always said if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it on that walk with him,” Wallenda said, explaining that he wants to use vintage film of Karl Wallenda’s walk to create the illusion of the two of them sharing the high wire. The stunt at Tallulah Falls Gorge in Georgia included two headstands on the high wire. What’s next? Wallenda has said he next wants to recreate a 1,200-foot-long high-wire walk made famous by his great-grandfather. “I was afraid when he first started, but once I saw that he didn’t hesitate and just walked, I wasn’t scared for him no more.”Ī year before Wallenda was born, his great-grandfather Karl Wallenda fell to his death during a tightrope stunt in Puerto Rico. I saw it with my own eyes,” Garner said afterward. Even grilling was prohibited.Ĭynthia Garner traveled 90 miles from Belvidere, Illinois, with her husband Johnny to watch the event. Residents of Marina City were asked not to use laser pointers, camera flashes or drones that could interfere. Months of preparations have meant helicopters lifting cable to the rooftops, road closures and clearances from the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. ![]() Just two days earlier, the city had been beset with gusty winds, snow, hail and driving rain. “Yes there’s some wind, yes it’s cool, but it’s not unbearable,” he said. Two of his previous televised tightrope walks - over the brink of Niagara Falls in 2012 and across the Little Colorado River Gorge in 2013 - drew about 13 million viewers each.Īt around 6:40 p.m., just minutes before the anticipated start of his high-wire feat, Wallenda, who lives in Florida, said the chilly conditions in Chicago would not stall him. Journalists covering Sunday’s event signed waivers relinquishing their right to claim emotional distress if they witness a catastrophe. Chicago city officials ignored a state law requiring safety nets for aerial acts higher than 20 feet, saying the law wasn’t intended for “elite” performers. The Discovery Channel used a 10-second delay for the broadcast, which would have allowed producers to cut away if anything went wrong. ![]()
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