18-08-06. This morning, the world renowned extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner jumped from Scandinavia`s most spectacular building, the “Turning Torso” in Malmö. Equipped with a second chute, he parachuted from a helicopter, landing on top of the building.
Like a real-life James Bond, the 37-year old Austrian Felix Baumgartner has in the past seven years not only set milestones in skydiving, but more specifically in BASE jumping, which is prohibited in most countries, and given this extreme sport cinematic dimensions.
In 1999, when he leaped from the highest skyscraper in the world, the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, he went up disguised as a businessman, carrying his parachute in a briefcase and than climbing through the ventilation shaft.
A year later he jumped from the Christ statue in Rio de Janeiro after using a crossbow to shoot a line around the arm of the famous landmark in order to climb up.
His biggest achievement came in 2003 when he soared across the English Channel with carbon wings strapped to his back - a device being tested by various military forces around the world.
Today, at exactly 6:40 a.m., the daredevil from Salzburg has added yet another chapter to his spectacular career. Leaping from the so-called “Turning Torso” in the Swedish city of Malmö – with a height of 190 metres, Scandinavia`s most spectacular building -- Baumgartner opened his parachute after three seconds of freefall. Upon touchdown, he took off on the back of his assistant’s motorcycle.
Due to the high level of security, Baumgartner landed on the roof of the 57-story twisted building – designed by architect Santiago Calatrava -- in typical fashion: He first jumped from a helicopter using a second parachute, landed atop the building, removed the parachute, put on the other one and jumped just three minutes later from the “Turning Torso.”
“The preparation was a very complex challenge,” Baumgarner explained on the boat back to Denmark. For weeks he closely studied the building in preparation. “Landing on the roof with a parachute is something I’ve alwasy wanted to try and I did it cause they said it was impossible”.