Awesome Athletes

Nico Fischer is an amazingly skilled parkour athlete. This clip shows Nico bouncing between two walls with such command that he looks like he’s defying gravity at times. He couldn’t decide if the moves were more Spider-Man or Prince of Persia, so his pal Aziz came up with a more appropriate superhero name, “Elevator-Man.” More wall-climbing antics here.

Some skiers shoot first-person video using action cameras, but for a third-person view, you need a camera operator on skis. Alexander Rydén is a professional action sports photographer who follows his subjects down the slopes at speeds up to 117 km/h. In this video, he talks about some of the gimbals and rigs he uses to capture the perfect shot.

During parkour team STORROR’s “Floor is Lava” challenge, the team headed to Full Fathom Five, a seaside sculpture made of 108 granite pillars, then attempted to run from one end to the other. It’s incredible to see these athletes make it so far without being covered with scrapes and bruises.

Esperanto is Teton Gravity Research’s latest mountain biking action film. During filming, rider Hannah Bergemann showed off her skills in the rough and treacherous terrain of Southern Utah, which was captured for us to enjoy in this short bonus reel. She kicks things off with an absolutely insane downhill run.

You might have jumped rope for fun when you were a kid or still do it for a workout, but Tori Boggs does it as her career. In this video from WIRED’s Obsessed, Tori shows off her mad rope-jumping skills and explains how she turned her passion into a profession and became a World Record-breaking champion.

Guinness World Records introduces us to Zion Clark, a wrestler, athlete, and inspiration to all. Zion was born without legs due to a rare genetic syndrome, but that hasn’t stopped him from running faster than most people who have legs. Zion’s dream is to become a wrestling champ and medal-winning Olympian.

From para-skiing to cliff-diving to rooftop parkour runs, there are lots of ways for athletes to get their thrills. Storyful compiled this 15-minute video featuring a dozen daredevil activities from the awe-inspiring to the downright foolhardy. Unless you count dizziness, the jumbo hula hoop at the end is clearly the tamest.

If you’re a serious rock climber, you need serious upper body and arm strength. Norwegian athlete Magnus Midtbø is among the world’s best rock climbers, and to prove just how strong he is, he managed to pull off this insane using only his right arm. He says he’s still working on his form.

It’s hard enough to hold your breath underwater for a long time, let alone walk while you’re doing it. Freediver Boris Milosic set the Guinness World Record for the feat, walking back and forth along the bottom of a pool while wearing a weighted belt. He walked for almost 4 minutes and covered 315 feet on a single breath.

Freestyle inline skate world champ Vasilisa Maslova struts her stuff as she works her way through a short slalom course. Not only does she perform the feat in reverse, but balanced on the front wheel of just one of her rollerblades.

Washington State University track and field star Ray Wells Jr. shows of his incredible jumping skills as he bounces over a series of sequentially taller hurdles until reaching a peak of 55″. He makes it look so effortless you’d think his shoes were spring-loaded. They’re not.

Since 1960, the Paralympic Games have provided a forum in which athletes with disabilities can showcase their true abilities. This Netflix documentary tells the history of what is now the world’s third-biggest sporting event, and how it not only bolstered its participants, but dramatically changed perceptions. Premieres 9.26.2020.

There are many things you can do while staying at home, but we didn’t think parkour was one of them. Freestyle ski champ Andri Ragettli proves us wrong as he performs a variety of balance and training exercises on his “floor is lava” indoor parkour course. Did he just use his laptop as a step?

If you’ve ever made your way up the face of a climbing wall, you know it can take time, strength, and patience to make it to the top. Or you could be Aries Susanti Rahayu, the first woman ever to climb a 15-meter wall in under 7 seconds. Don’t blink, or you might miss it.

The bar for sports nutrition has been raised with the GLUKOS line of energy products. Made without sucrose or fructose, the not-too-sweet goods provide a natural boost of energy in half the time of harsh sports drinks. Available here.

Gold medal decathlete Bryan Clay has retired from his sport, but he still keeps his javelin handy for special occasions such as pulling his daughter’s loose baby tooth. Good luck finding the tooth after that.

The Cleveland Browns tipped us to this insane footage of wide receiver Andrew Hawkins as he practices his footwork. One thing’s for sure – when he eventually retires, he’ll have no problem dominating Dancing with the Stars. More here.

Australian breakdancer Simon Ata demonstrates some of the exercises he does to keep in shape for his dance routines, with precision control over muscles we didn’t even knew existed. Seriously, this is some next level Cirque du Soleil sh*t.

We love human Rube Goldberg vids; here, the Red Bull Kluge combines the agile athletic prowess of Lolo Jones, Danny MacAskill, Robbie Maddison and more with complex machinery. (Thanks everyone!)