A New Zealander breaks the world record in bungee jumping – South Tyrol News

A New Zealander has jumped off the Auckland Bridge in the North Island 941 times in 24 hours and is expected to bring home the world bungee jumping record. New Zealand media reported on Wednesday, citing organizers, that 41-year-old Mike Hurd clearly surpassed the previous record of 765 jumps, set by a Frenchman in Scotland last year.

The recording attempt was broadcast live on YouTube. “I wanted to do more than 800 jumps, but I didn’t know how many jumps I would end up doing,” Heard told Radio New Zealand. The new record has not yet been officially confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Heard also wanted to raise money for the non-profit Mental Health Foundation through his campaign on World Mental Health Day. He has already held the world record in the past: in 2017 the number was 430 jumps. The Stuff news website quoted him as saying that a whole new level has now been reached. “But we had to return to this record because bungee was invented in New Zealand and is part of our DNA,” the new champion said happily.

Two young New Zealanders, AJ Hackett and Henry Van Assche, founded the first commercial bungee jumping company in the 1980s, jumping from the Kawarau Bridge near Queenstown. Since then, New Zealand has been considered the home of bungee jumping.

“941 jumps in 24 hours is a really big achievement,” Van Assche said happily. He himself has completed almost no jumps in the 35 years since the bungee hype began in New Zealand. According to Heard, he’s feeling good after the record jump: “I feel a little bit like I just got off a boat, a little wobbly,” he said on the radio.

From: APA/EPA