Quebec duo sets world record after performing jumps from hot-air balloons

Quebec athletes Lysanne Richard and Yves Milord are making a splash on the earth of excessive diving, and have set a brand new world document.

The duo carried out a synchronized dive final week, launching themselves from two hot-air balloons in flight into the waters of the Richelieu River.

In response to a launch, the divers set the brand new world document by leaping from small platforms rigged on the sting of the balloons’ baskets with Richard entrance flipping from a top of 25 metres, and Milord from a top of 23 metres.

Richard, a mom of three, has already made a reputation for herself on the earth of excessive diving, with 14 podiums together with three victories within the Pink Bull Cliff Diving circuit. She was additionally named High Diving Athlete of the 12 months in 2016 after a World Cup victory in Abu Dhabi.

Milord, for his half, boasts over 35 years of expertise in acrobatics and excessive diving.

The concept for the record-making dive first got here to Richard in 2016, a launch stated, however her dream actually got here to life via a partnership with the Worldwide de montgolfières de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, organizers of an annual worldwide ballooning competition southeast of Montreal.

Final week’s dive required a staff of 40 professionals together with skilled balloon pilots to convey the challenge to fruition.

Among the challenges included establishing a hot-air balloon security committee to find out the best flying situations, analyzing the water within the river and constructing customized platforms.

Organizers stated not like different aircrafts, you possibly can’t steer a hot-air balloon.

“The pilot and their staff should precisely choose wind path and velocity, which vastly varies with altitude and climate, to be able to maneuver the balloon in direction of the goal location and the required water depth for the dive.”

Preparations included training jumps into an air mattress from a balloon anchored to the bottom and diving into water on the Flintkote quarry in Thetford Mines.

And whereas the stunt was months within the making, the precise dives have been solely three seconds lengthy as Richard and Milord twisted via the air at speeds greater than 70 kilometres per hour.

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Worldwide de Montgolfières: Excessive Dives from a Scorching-Air Balloon

It’s an accomplishment Richard is happy with.

“Deciding to tackle such a problem takes a lifetime of expertise in acrobatics in addition to particular coaching and highly effective psychological visualization of the dive, ” Richard stated in a press launch. “I’m extraordinarily proud to have succeeded, together with Yves, in attaining this feat, which I’ve been dreaming about for a number of years.”

The dive was first scheduled for Aug. 16 however needed to be pushed again as a result of unsafe wind situations.

“It’s actually a novel feeling to expertise this exhilaration after months of preparation,” Richard stated.