Skydivers Marco Fürst and Marco Waltenspiel have spent their lives pushing the conventional limits of skydiving.
Today, they added another career feat by becoming the first people to fly through London’s defining landmark, the Tower Bridge.
Attempting a challenge never before faced in history, Fürst and Waltenspiel jumped from a helicopter at 3,000 feet, diving down to 35 metres above the River Thames. They then soared through the Tower Bridge and completed a complex maneuver known as a ‘flare’ to rise up again to 80 meters, the height required to open their parachutes. The pair landed safely on the River Thames.
From takeoff to landing, the wingsuit flight lasted 45 seconds. It covered a distance of 1.2 kilometres and reached a top speed of 246 kilometres per hour. The skydivers exited the helicopter at around 3000 feet.
“I just feel amazing. The jump was beautiful, and everything worked out really well,” said Fürst.
“In the last two and a half years we planned everything through and had the best preparation and training. I really enjoyed the journey, and I’m really grateful to work with Marco and such a good team to bring our dream to life.”
“You can’t rebuild this unique bridge. We did around 200 training jumps just for this day, just for this minute,” said Waltenspiel.
“The difference between training and today is, of course, huge. It’s not a common jump; it’s unique. It was quite intense, and I’m super happy now.”
Preparation started for this unique challenge in April 2022 and has involved the team constructing a training ground in Oxfordshire, which featured two cranes to mimic the dimensions of the Tower Bridge.
Red Bull partnered with Canon as the Official Camera Partner to bring the project to life, utilising a broad range of cutting-edge imaging technology to capture the action.
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