The King of the Wire nicknamed Nik Wallenda is a seventh-generation member of The Flying Wallendas family of aerialists. His ancestors, primarily of Austro-Hungarian descent, have been circus performers since the 1700s and have been doing balancing acts without nets since Karl Wallenda made the family famous for the feat in the 1920s. Nik Wallenda participated in various circus acts as a child. At age 13.He was Born January 24, 1979 (age 35) Sarasota, Florida, U.S. Known for High-wire act without a net.
In 2008, Wallenda set Guinness World Records for longest and highest bicycle ride on a high-wire 250-foot-long (76 m) ride at 135 feet (41 m) above the ground in New Jersey. He nearly doubled the height record in 2010 to 260 feet (79 m). On the same day in 2010, he upped his personal best by tightrope walking over 2,000 feet (610 m) in a single performance. In 2011, Wallenda set a world record by performing on the Wheel of Death atop the 23 story Tropicana Casino and Resort. Later that year, Wallenda and his mother tightrope walked between the two towers of Condado Plaza Hotel in Puerto Rico. The feat was a re-creation of the one that had killed Karl Wallenda, Nik's great-grandfather and primary source of inspiration. On June 10, 2011, Wallenda hung from a helicopter 250 feet (76 m) off the ground using only his teeth to hold on. After a two-year legal battle involving both sides of the Canada–United States border to gain approval, Wallenda crossed Niagara Falls on June 15, 2012 on a live ABC special. On June 23, 2013, he became the first person to high-wire walk across a Grand Canyon area gorge (crossing the Little Colorado River outside Grand Canyon National Park), the feat airing live on Discovery . The followed that up with Skyscraper Live, a live Discovery special which aired on November 2, 2014. In the special, Wallenda completed the two tightrope walks, setting two new Guinness world records: one for walking the steepest tightrope incline between two buildings and the other for the highest tightrope walk while blindfolded. Wallenda at Skyscraper Live press conference in Chicago November 2, 2014.
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