Nik Wallenda
Nik Wallenda
Nikolas "Nik" Wallendais an American acrobat, aerialist, daredevil, high wire artist, and author. He is known for his high-wire performances without a safety net. He holds nine Guinness World Records for various acrobatic feats, but is best known as the first person to walk a tightrope stretched directly over Niagara Falls...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionOther
Date of Birth24 January 1979
CitySarasota, FL
CountryUnited States of America
There was no way to focus on the movement of the cable. If I looked down at the cable there was water moving everywhere. And if I looked up there was heavy mist blowing in front of my face. So it was a very unique, a weird sensation.
To do this walk, I believe it's around 2,000 feet, to go from the U.S. to Canada. I would train walking a wire almost 8,000 feet, to overtrain for this.
I've seen the video played over and over, and it replays in my head constantly. To be able to walk in his exact footsteps is an extremely huge honor, and I did this for him as much as I did it for my family to get some closure too.
This is something no one in the world has ever done.
One thing that I pride myself on is, everything that I do is completely legit. We go through every channel, and do it the proper way.
I started walking a wire when I was 2 years old, and this has been a dream of mine to recreate this walk.
I'm often very relaxed when I'm on the wire. There may be some tears because this is a dream of mine.
It's about carrying on the legacy and doing something I love and have a passion for.
We train very hard under windy conditions. I've actually walked a wire in my backyard with 90-mile-an-hour winds.
I hope what I do and what I just did inspires people around the world to reach for the skies.
That mist was thick. It was hard to see at times. The wind was wild. It'd come at me one way and hit me from the front, and hit me from the back.
I'm facing Niagara Falls - the wind and the mist and the dark and the peregrine falcons - and I'm going to stay focused on the other side.
The mist was so challenging and the winds hit me, definitely more than I expected. It was definitely those winds, you can't re-enact them, you can't recreate them. Then my forearms started to tense up and you feel like running.
I am so blessed. How blessed I am to have the life that I have.