A daredevil American, Nik Wallenda, became first person in the world to walk on a tightrope across the roaring Niagara Falls, separating U.S. and Canada.
A high-wire artist Wallenda, 33, defied predictions of naysayers who warned him of everything from falcons to fierce winds toppling him as he braved heavy winds and heavy spray taking just under 30 minutes to cover the 1,800 feet distance across the mist-fogged brink of the falls.
Egged on by hundreds of thousands of people watching him from the Canadian and US sides of the falls, Wallenda gingerly walked on a cable suspended 196 feet over a never—before traversed rim of the biggest waterfall in the North America.
“I feel like I’m on cloud nine right now,” he said at a news conference minutes after completing the walk.
“The impossible is not quite the impossible if you set your mind to it.”
A member of the family of famed high-wire walkers Wallenda family, Nik said he had from childhood dreamt of pulling off the stunt, but never before attempted.
Other attempts have been made to wire-walk across the Niagara, but they have all been downstream.
Wallenda started his dream walk from the American end and arrived on the Canadian side, waving to his fans.
Attempts to cross the falls are strictly forbidden, but the authorities made an exception for Wallenda, who is a descendant in a long line of acrobats and circus performers.
Wallenda said the first thing he did after the walk was to call his grandmother to let her know that he had done it.
