Nik Wallenda completes two tightrope walks between Chicago skyscrapers without safety net
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Version 0 of 1. Daredevil Nik Wallenda broke two world records on Sunday after completing two tightrope walks between Chicago skyscrapers without a safety net or a harness. He also completed one of the walks blindfolded. Thousands watched as the 35-year-old walked once between the Marina City west tower to the top of a building on the other side of a river, and then between the two 587ft-high, 65-story Marina City towers in Chicago. The whole event was broadcast almost-live on the Discovery Channel so that producers could cut away if Wallenda fell during the stunt. Journalists covering the event had to sign waivers relinquishing their right to claim emotional distress if they witnessed a catastrophe. Asked how it felt during the blindfolded walk, Wallenda said, "I think you probably saw me shaking life a leaf. That wire was shaking underneath me and you know I just wanted to make it to the other side, I wasn't going to think twice, I was just getting on the wire, I’m going." For the first walk, it took Wallenda around six and a half minutes to walk 452ft-long wire, while for the second blindfolded stretch he completed the 94ft-walk in just over a minute. Wallenda walked over the brink of Niagra Falls in 2012 and across the Little Colorado River Gorge last year. Both televised events were watched by roughly 13 million people. Wallenda is the great-grandson of Karl Wallenda who founded The Flying Wallendas, a daredevil circus act. Karl Wallenda died in 1978 at the age of 73 during an attempted tightrope walk in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Nik Wallenda was born a year later. Additional reporting by AP. |