Man leaping on brown, wooden platforms / sergio souza via Unsplash
Instagram was graced with terrifying footage this past week. Russian parkour artist Sergey Shorokhov attempted a stunning jump across buildings 25 stories above ground. Luck was on his side, as his foot snagged in some wire and it surely saved his life.
On his IG account, Sergey features the initial jump and epic fail, as well as a mini-documentary about the jump. Sadly, this is not the first parkour artist to have a near death experience. Indeed, there are several parkour artists who have died in pursuit of the next big stunt. As far back as 2015, there are videos on YouTube about these deaths or near-death experiences in the parkour world.
Mr. Shorokhov is not the first Russian to make headlines about parkour accidents. In 2013, fellow Russian, Pavel Kashin was stunting atop a 16 story building and lost his footing. The back flip he attempted ended his life at a tragically young age and his parents gave permission to share his last photo as a warning to other young parkour artists.
Whether you think parkour is completely insane or you think it’s a massively impressive, artistic expression, everyone can agree there is an extreme level of danger associated with the sport. Pavel Kashin’s family mourns him to this day and we hope that Sergey Shorokhov’s family never has to feel this same pain.
If you are a parkour enthusiast like Shorokhov, share with us why you are drawn to this beautiful and terrifying sport in the comments below! And for heavens sake, be safe.
