AssetID: 55326152
Headline: RAW VIDEO: Wingsuit athletes Dani Román and Fred Fugen complete world-first stunt at Bahrain's World Trade Center
Caption: Wingsuit athletes Dani Román and Fred Fugen have performed a world first at the Bahrain World Trade Center, with a synchronised head-on crossing between the twin towers from opposite sides. Travelling at 220 km/h each, they closed in at a combined speed of 440 km/h – more than 120 metres per second – passing the crossing point simultaneously and just 10 metres apart. The pair exited a Black Hawk helicopter at 4,000ft (1,200 metres) before accelerating over Manama’s skyline. They split into opposing lines, then turned back towards the centreline of the iconic towers, crossing 40 metres above the building’s well-known wind turbines. Román and Fugen first spotted the Bahrain World Trade Center during a visit in 2022 and immediately identified its potential for a synchronised flight project. Their achievement followed two years of planning, securing permits, running simulations, technical mapping and flight training. “Crossing through this building in a synchronized flight has been a dream of ours for the last two years,” said Fugen, the French three-time world champion freeflyer with 20,000 skydives and 1,500 BASE jumps to his name. “To imagine something we’d never done before, then work for it and make it happen here in this beautiful building, was an incredible feeling.” While threading the gap between the towers proved relatively straightforward, synchronising their trajectories posed the greater challenge. With no instruments or live data, the athletes relied entirely on visual markers and physical sensation to maintain matching speed and timing. “We don’t have a GPS, or any of the information planes have, so the only way we know the speed is by the feeling in our body,” explained Román, a Spanish Red Bull athlete renowned for high-precision wingsuit and BASE projects. “It’s tricky because in training, if you get wind from one side, one has a headwind and the other gets tailwind. I have no idea how, but on the first day of shooting it worked. Magic happened!” Training began in France, where they completed more than 35 practice jumps using a static drone at 200 metres to replicate the crossing point and build consistent reference lines. GPS tracks from those flights were later overlaid onto the Bahrain World Trade Center. A second phase of training in the Bahraini desert allowed the pair to adjust to local flying conditions with a helicopter crew. Beyond the technical detail, the project relied heavily on trust built over years of flying together. “We spend much more time on the ground together than actually in the sky, so it’s important to have a really good connection. It’s about friendship and having fun together,” said Fugen. Román added: “Fred’s a legend of the sport, so to fly and plan this thing with him was amazing.” The feat was supported by a wide network of partners, including the Bahrain Tourism Authority, the Bahrain Olympic Committee and the local Red Bull team. Filmed in Manama, the video is being released ahead of Bahrain National Day on 16 December, showcasing the city and the country that enabled the project. “It’s hard to make something like this happen in other countries,” said Román. “All the support we got from the people here, the government – and how open to this project they’ve been – has been incredible.” After years of preparation, the final manoeuvre lasted only seconds. Both athletes turned into the gap, accelerated, and aligned their sightlines before the crossing. “When we saw each other coming and knew we did a perfect crossing, it was just an amazing feeling,” said Fugen. “For us, it’s huge because we were able to realize it exactly how we dreamed it. We couldn’t have done it better.”
Keywords: feature,video,red bull,wingsuit,stunt,bahrain,photo
PersonInImage: