It was a strange sight in Paris this weekend as a large gathering watched intently towards the sky! The crowd standing on the Seine river bank and Eiffel Tower looked with bated breath at an unusual sight as a slackliner walked across the sky above their heads.
It was the famous Nathan Paulin who walked 600 metres of slackline from the iconic Eiffel Tower to the Chaillot Theatre which is on Seine’s other side.
Interestingly, it took just 30 minutes for the 27-year-old to go across.
While it may be unusual for the people watching him, it was not for Paulin as he had earlier done a walk in December 2017 from the Eiffel Tower for a televised charity fundraiser.
Paulin holds the record that remains unbroken so far of doing the longest urban highline walk with a safety harness.
The Saturday (September 18) feat saw Paulin at some points lying and sitting down on the slackline, drawing rapturous applause from crowds watching below and from the Eiffel Tower.
The present performance was done for an initiative organized by the Chaillot Theatre with the help of French dancer and choreographer Rachid Ouramdane and it took place on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
Though slacklining is like tightrope walking, there is a difference as it involves a wire that has not been stretched taut, but rather moves with the user. According to Reuters, for the weekend performances, the slackline of Paulin was suspended 70 metres above ground.
The performance done by Paulin forms a part of the Paris celebrations for the European Heritage Days and Cultural Olympiad launch. Besides this feat, there were other performances by French artists.
As per the information on Paulin’s website, he holds many records. His longest walk is a 1662-metre highline suspended at a height of 300 meters at Cirque de Navacelles, a landform in the Massif Central mountain range in southern France. It was in 2011 he began slacklining and according to him, it helped him to find “true inner peace” through intense concentration and mastery over his body.
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