Skydivers Fly Through London's Tower Bridge In World First

LONDON: SUNDAY 12TH MAY.

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 ‘Tower Bridge’.

Attempting a challenge never-before faced in history, the Marcos jumped from a helicopter at 3,000ft, diving down to 35m above the River Thames, soaring through the Tower Bridge and completing a complex maneuver, known as a ‘flare’, to rise up again to 80m, the height required to open their parachutes. The pair landed safely on the River Thames.

From take-off to landing, the wingsuit flight lasted 45 seconds, covering a distance of 1.2 kilometers and reaching a top speed of 246 km/h. The skydivers exited the helicopter at around 3000 feet.

Marco Fürst said: “I just feel amazing. The jump was beautiful and everything worked out really good. 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”.

Marco Waltenspiel echoed his sentiment: “You can't rebuild this unique bridge. We did around 200 training jumps just for this day, just for this minute. 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.

Wingsuit flying has revolutionised skydiving, with the purpose to convert vertical falling into a horizontal flight, then landing safely using a parachute. Fürst and Waltenspiel, members of the Red Bull Skydive Team, have completed 11.000 jumps in places like Croatia’s heart island and iconic downhill ski run ‘The Streif’ in Kitzbühel, Austria.

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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