World’s longest slackline walked between Italy and Sicily

Hollywood stuntman and Estonian daredevil Jaan Roose has made an odd slice of history by becoming the first person to walk over the Strait of Messina, which separates mainland Italy from Sicily. Specifically, on a slackline. The slackline, spanning 3,646 meters and suspended at an altitude of 265 meters above the strait, is the longest ever built. Roose took almost three hours to walk the line, making over 15,000 steps. Roose said that the presence of boats on the busy strait, and therefore the height he had to walk at, was ‘distracting.’ The hundreds cheering him on, however, were a more welcome distraction. Technically, this does not qualify for a world record, even though it beat the world record by almost a kilometer, as Roose fell from the slackline just 80m before the end. Cut him some slack.