Have You Heard of Sport “Death Diving”? World Record Is Broken by Frenchman

French diver Côme Girardøt set a world record in the sport known as “death diving”, hitting the water at a speed of 106 km per hour.

The world record for death diving was broken by French daredevil Côme Girardøt when he leaped off a cliff that was 144 feet high, or 43.9 meters high. A 22-year-old diver succeded in shattering the “døds diving”—the Norwegian-invented death diving technique— greatest result by leaping down the La Cimbarra waterfall near the town of Aldeaquemada in central Spain in incredibly windy weather.

In the brief three-second dive, the native of Bordeaux fell feet first at a speed of about 106 km/h. The former 34.25-meter world record holder Girardøt wrote in an Instagram post that he had been preparing for an endeavor for eight months, while he has been diving for the past five years. In August, Swiss diver Lucien Charlon set the previous world record for døds diving when he leaped from a height of 136.81 feet, or 41.7 meters.

What on Earth Is Death Diving?

Erling Bruno Hovden, a musician, was the founder of the sport of “døds diving” in 1969 in Norway. The word “døds” means “death” in Norwegian.

Unlike traditional high diving, this type of diving involves the diver spreading their arms and legs wide when jumping, allowing them to fly horizontally toward the water without flipping or rotating.

Four primary criteria will be considered by the judges for this extreme sport: a controlled flight with tricks, a run-up with high speed and power off the platform, a landing where a more horizontal entrance into the water earns more points, and an overall impression that emphasizes the flow of each dive.

The bulk of competitors in this extreme type of diving are Norwegian, but in recent years, Americans and a few competitors from other countries, like Spain, France, and Denmark, have also found themselves making their way into the upper echelons of the sport.

The International Døds Federation oversees, produces, and promotes death diving through its Døds Diving League, which includes the Døds Diving World Tour, Døds Diving World Championship, and other exclusive events. Since its inaugural year in 2008 as the first official death diving competition on a global scale, the Døds Diving World Championship, the ultimate event in the sport of death diving, has been held annually in August in Oslo, Norway.

Døds diving is divided into two categories: classic and freestyle.

Competitors in the classic event must fly horizontally, without rotating, with their arms and legs outstretched until they contact the water. In order to prevent major injury, competitors curl into a fetal position right before entering the water. They land first with their feet and hands or knees and elbows. Speed, air time, intricacy, length of time the diver maintains the initial attitude, closing, and splash are all taken into consideration while judging a dive. Freestyle refers to the variety of maneuvers divers perform while in the air, such as flips and spins.

In case you found døds diving interesting to watch and bet on after you read the text, we must disappoint you – there are no betting sites offering it. Sure, extreme sports are popular nowadays, but some are more popular than others, and because of that, you’re likely to find betting odds for the more popular ones at top bookies sites. In contrast to other less well-liked extreme activities like ice yachting, diving, skysurfing, and canyoning, you’re more likely to bump into odds for extreme sports like surfing, snowboarding, windsurfing, and mountain biking.