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Watch: Meet daredevil who defied gravity, walked on 700ft-high rope between Dubai skyscrapers
Slackline athlete performed several tricks during the stunt and even lay flat on the line between the iconic Jumeirah Emirates Towers
- PUBLISHED: Sun 12 Jan 2025, 9:02 AM UPDATED: Mon 13 Jan 2025, 8:24 AM
Slackliner Jaan Roose, who walked and even hung upside down along a 100-metre line at a height of over 700 feet between the iconic Jumeirah Emirates Towers, was anxious before his stunt.
On Saturday noon, the Estonian performed the walk between the Dubai skyscrapers. "While doing the walk at noon, I was feeling a little anxious, like your heartbeat is faster before getting on a stage," he told Khaleej Times after the stunt.
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"It was a bit challenging because the buildings look beautiful, but because they are of different heights, it was hard to find the perfect place to anchor. Also, the walk was uphill because there was a difference of about 5 meters between the two points."
A three-time world champion, Jaan holds numerous world records and world-firsts in the sport. Last year, the Red Bull athlete walked a whopping 3.6km over the Messina Strait, a body of water that runs between the island of Sicily and mainland Italy, on a 1.9cm-thin slackline.
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Walking the line
Jaan walked across the towers in Dubai three times on Saturday. "I did a test walk at sunrise," he said. "Then I did the main walk during the midday with the audience. I walked in the evening at sunset as well, which was beautiful. At the height of 734 feet, the dynamics change and the line becomes shaky. I had to be careful with every step."
He performed several tricks during the walk and even lay flat on the line. As he bounced and then hung upside down on the line, there was a collective gasp from the audience. "That is what people want to see," he said. "They want to feel emotions. So, I got a challenging walk while entertaining myself and the audience. We got a win-win situation."
- Watch him do the stunt below:
He said that one of the most challenging things is to keep a calm body and mind. "This requires balance, reaction time and mental and physical calmness. For example, when I see the line shaking because of the wind. And then my legs are getting cramped because I see what's happening. So, the visual input creates this physical tension, making my legs even more shaky. So I have to break this cycle."
- Here's another video:
He said he controlled the situation by stopping. "First, I breathe and then I stop walking," he said. "I relax the muscles by breathing. I only take the next step when I know it is right moment. Each step needs to be almost perfect. Especially if it's windy, I have to be really prepared."
Quitting his Dubai job
Jaan is also the first and only athlete to perform a double backflip on a slackline, a feat he said took six years of hard work to perfect. To land it, he quit his job in Dubai and returned to his home country to practice.
"In 2016, I was working at La Perle, and I could not practice my stunts because I was doing the show," he said. "The main reason I left and went home was to practice the stunt."
For the next couple of years, he practised the flip in every possible place he could, including forests and over ice. After almost 60 attempts, he landed the trick during a late-night practice session at his old school. "I was so scared during the drive back home because I was driving through a forest," he recalled. "I was worried I would get in an accident and the footage of my stunt would be destroyed. That was the slowest I ever rode."
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