First person to walk tightrope across Niagara Falls: Nik Wallenda sets world record
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y, USA — Daredevil Nik Wallenda, 33, stepped gingerly into the record books, crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope suspended 200 feet in the air and setting the world record for the First person to walk tightrope across Niagara Falls,
according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/.
Photo: Nick Wallenda, the first person to walk tightrope across Niagara Falls. Photo: Aaron Vincent/AP (enlarge photo)
The Guinness world record for the longest tightrope crossing by bicycle is 71.63 m (235 ft) and was achieved by Nik Wallenda (USA) in Newark, New Jersey, USA.
Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the highest tightrope crossing by bicycle: 238 ft (72.5 m), by Nik Wallenda (USA) between the Royal Towers of the Atlantis Paradise Island hotel in Nassau, The Bahamas.
The 33-year-old funambulist from the famous Flying Wallendas clan pumped his fist in the air as he neared the end of the 1,800-foot journey witnessed by 4,000 ticketholders and millions on ABC.
"This is something that no one in the world has ever done," he boasted later, dedicating the feat to his great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, who fell to his death in 1968 while attempting to walk between the towers of the 10-story Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
After he conquered the wet and winds of the falls and headed into the home-stretch, he admitted he was getting tired of holding his balance bar.
"My hands at this time feel like they're going numb. I'm feeling weak," Wallenda said soon after crossing the invisible U.S.-Canadian border in midair -- with his passport.
The seventh-generation tightrope walker holds six Guinness World Records, including one for the longest bicycle ride on a tightrope without a safety net.
He's already planning his next challenge.
"I have permits to walk across the Grand Canyon, which no one's ever done," he said.
"And I'm also working on permits to walk from one continent to another in Turkey. And there are many other things that I'd like to do."