SAINT-JEANNET, France (Reuters) — Slackline aficionados and highline pros gathered near the village of Saint-Jeannet nestled in France’s south on Sunday (May 21), to watch participants in the fifth edition of the French Riviera Highline Meeting (FRHM) attempt to set a new world record.
Highlining, an extreme sport practiced by few, is an elevated variation of the so-called slacklining, which refers to the act of walking or balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tensioned between two anchors.
To beat the current world record of 800 metres, set at the same event, thrill-seekers had to cross a highline stretched between two immense mountain cliffs, one in Saint-Jeannet and the other in Vence (France), resulting in a distance of 1,600 metres at a height of more than 600 metres.
But under Sunday’s sunny blues skies, only 27-year-old German student Friedrich Kuhne stepped up to the challenge and broke the world record.
According to the organizers, the crossing takes about two hours on a rope weighing 300 to 400 kilograms extended between the cliffs of the Baou de Saint-Jeannet and the Baou des Noirs in Vence, offering a landscape of panoramic views over the French Riviera.
The highline and slackline are considered more challenging than the conventional tightrope as the line is not completely taut, therefore susceptible to bouncing and stretching.
The first edition of the FRHM took place in 2013 and attracts amateurs and pros of the extreme sport every year.
This year’s edition began on May 10 and will run until May 22.