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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