Frenchman Francois-Marie Dibon has smashed the world record for the most bungee jumps in 24 hours, beating it in just more than 12 hours.
Dibon, 44, traveled to Scotland for his attempt to break the record, which was held by New Zealander Mike Heard, who completed 430 bungee jumps in a day at Auckland Harbour Bridge in May 2017.
After starting at 10:10am on Tuesday, Dibon completed his 431st jump at 10:30pm at Garry Bridge, near the village of Killiecrankie in Perthshire, assisted by the Highland Fling Bungee team.
Dibon, who was raised in Paris and works as an actuary in Sweden, was expected to make the last of the jumps at 10am yesterday.
On his decision to make the attempt in Scotland, Dibon said he loved the country and that the “French love the Scottish people.”
“I discovered this amazing spot in Pitlochry and an amazing team more than five years ago, and I just felt, wow, this is so fun and so cool, you know, bungee jumping, I could do that all day. Well then, I thought, let’s put that statement to the test,” he said before his attempt.
Dibon said he used to be afraid of heights and previously struggled to dive into a swimming pool, but that bungee jumping has become “a good cure,” adding: “You have nothing to fear, because you’re attached to a bungee cord.”
The Highland Fling Bungee team said they made technical adjustments to their winched retrieval system to accommodate Dibon’s world record attempt.
“When Francois first jumped with us, he fell in love with the place,” Highland Fling Bungee operations manager Laurie Thomas said. “It is great to be part of this, with him, and the team will have this on their CVs forever.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
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