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Daredevil breaks own high wire World Record

A high wire performer from a family of daredevils is thought to have broken his own world record by cycling across a tightrope 260ft (80m) in the air, without a safety net.

Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation funambulist from the Flying Wallendas circus family, cycled more than 100ft (30m) along the wire strung between two hotels at the Paradise Island Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.

The new record for the highest traverse of a high wire on a bicycle is subject to confirmation by Guinness World Records.

Mr Wallenda is the current holder of the records for the longest distance and greatest height travelled by bicycle on a high wire, which he set by travelling 235ft (72m) at a height of 135ft (41m) in Newark, New Jersey in 2008.

His latest record attempt was watched by hundreds of tourists who photographed the spectacle from the resort below.

Following his successful stunt the daredevil performed a second trick, walking about 2,000ft (610m) across a high wire suspended 250ft (76m) above the resort's open-air marine habitat, which is infested with sharks, barracudas and piranhas.

The performer defied winds of 28 knots and occasional thunderstorms to safely complete the traverse - the furthest he has ever travelled by foot on a high wire.

Mr Wallenda said: "Against all odds I walked on that wire today. There was lightning in the area, high winds, and it was the first walk without my father.

"It was one of the hardest decisions I ever made in my life. and the hardest walk I have ever done. But my family history and my family tradition is that the show must go on."

Mr Wallenda is the great-grandson of the celebrated circus performer Karl Wallenda, who died after falling off a high wire in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1978.

He said he hopes to continue performing as long as he is physically able, adding: "I want to be the first person in the world to walk across the Grand Canyon, and I have the permit to do it."
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