Extreme sports allow you to experience a huge adrenaline rush. The most dangerous sport in its thirty years of existence has already taken 403 lives. The top ten extreme sports are base jumping, street luge, and diving.
1. BASE jumping
BASE jumping – the most dangerous sport, one of the types of parachute jumps. The main feature of the sport is that athletes jump from low altitudes. The English name of the sport BASE jumping is an acronym:
- Building
- antenna
- Span
- Earth
These four positions are the starting points for the athletes. Base Jumping requires special parachutes that open very quickly.
Base Jumping is the most dangerous type of skydiving, as the flight lasts for seconds and takes place at extremely low altitudes. The slightest mistake is fatal. So far, 403 athletes have died, with the last fatal accident occurring on April 4, 2021.
Gennady Yagupov https://solidityfinanc.com/
2. Street luge
Street luge is an extreme sport. Its essence is a fast descent on a long skateboard. The athlete is placed on the board with his feet forward in a supine position.
Street luge – it is a very dangerous sport. The risk is posed by such factors:
- Lack of brakes
- Lack of equipped tracks and using highways for descents
- Limited visibility
3. Diving
Diving is scuba diving. The peculiarity of this sport is a permanent stay underwater and the use of special equipment.
Tourist diving at shallow depths is not dangerous. Extreme types of diving are those in which there is an element of “overhead environment”; that is, between the diver and the surface of the water is an obstacle. These types of diving include:
- Cave diving – swimming in underwater caves;
- Rack diving – swimming in the hulls of sunken ships;
- Ice diving.
The main danger in extreme diving is the inability to quickly surface because of an obstacle, low water temperatures, almost complete darkness, and the risk of disorientation.
The record for an extreme dive in 2004 was set by Verna van Schaik. The sportswoman dived to a depth of 221 m in the Boesmansgat Cave (South Africa) and stayed underwater for more than five hours.
4. Rafting
Rafting is an extreme sport that involves rafting down mountain rivers. Sportsmen raft on special inflatable boats – rafts. For the rafting, route choose rivers with an abundance of:
- rapids;
- rifts;
- shivers (shallow areas with protruding stones);
- waterfalls.
In rafting, the classification of difficulty levels from the first to the sixth is applied. Rafting on routes of higher than the third level of difficulty with a large number of dangerous obstacles is considered an extreme sport. Lower levels are more suitable for unprepared tourists’ entertainment and do not represent serious danger.
The main danger of this sport is a chance to fall out of the raft and get injured or get into an underwater pocket. Rafting routes run in inaccessible terrain, and you should not count on the quick arrival of paramedics or rescuers.
5. Wingsuit flying
Wingsuit flying is one of the varieties of parachute jumps. The peculiarity of this sport is that the athlete does not descend smoothly to the ground but flies. This requires a special suit, which makes the athlete resemble a flying squirrel.
The suit is equipped with webbing that connects the arms and legs. They serve as a kind of wings to fly. The pilot has to spread his arms and legs wide enough to keep on flying with the help of the airflow.
The distance a parachutist with a wingsuit can cover up to ten kilometers. The current world record is 32 kilometers. It was set by the American Kyle Lobpris in 2016.
The main danger of flying in a wingsuit is the enormous speed. The world record for speed in this sport is 397 km/hour. Due to the fact that the athlete uses a parachute to land, flying in a Wingsuit is still considered to be a parachute sport. In addition, the athlete is highly dependent on the reliability of the suit and parachute.
6. Surfing
Surfing is an extreme water sport. Its essence is to slide on a wave on a special board.
The athlete (surfer or surfer) uses a surfboard ranging in length from 180 cm (shortboard) to 300 cm (longboard). Standing on this board, the surfer tries to keep his balance and slip over the front bottom of the wave. Surfing requires high waves, which are found mostly in the oceans, although there are pools that create artificial waves for surfing.
Surfing is one of the oldest extreme sports. It originated in ancient times in Polynesia. Europeans were introduced to this sport in the XVIII century.
The most dangerous kind of sport – surfing on big waves. To pass the test, you must successfully ride a wave that is at least 6 m 20 cm high. The highest wave that man has conquered – 24 m.
The main danger – is the probability of “falling” underwater to a depth of 15 meters, where the surfer can lose focus and not come up. In these competitions, even the famous champions have died.
7. Rock climbing
Rock climbing is a dangerous sport. Its essence is climbing on steep terrain. Climbing on an artificial climbing wall is not dangerous because the athletes use belaying and mats.
The sport becomes dangerous when it comes to natural terrain (rocks, mountains) on unprepared tracks. This type of climbing is similar to mountaineering. It requires special training because even the slightest wrong move or a faulty carabiner can take an athlete down from a great height. At
Olympics, held in the summer of 2021 in Tokyo, rock climbers had their first opportunity to compete for Olympic medals.
8. Kiteboarding
Kitesurfing is a water sport in which athletes ride on the surface of the water. The peculiarity is that the athlete moves with the help of air traction, which is created by a kite.
The kite is attached to a person. He also holds in his hands a trapeze to control the kite. Using it, the surfer catches the necessary wind direction and controls the movement and speed.
Kitesurfing often involves performing tricks involving jumping on the water. An inexperienced surfer can lose control of the kite during such jumps and get injured. The main danger is mistakes in control, as well as sharp gusts of wind. Most accidents are related to:
- Dragging the athlete on land;
- Falling into the water from a great height.
9. Rodeo
Rodeo is a traditional American sport. Its essence is to stay in the saddle on an enraged bull or horse.
The sport originated as a traditional cowboy competition in Texas. The rider must stay on the animal for eight seconds. It is not easy to do because wild and frisky animals are used. It has been known to be possible to stay in the saddle longer than two minutes.
Rodeo is a dangerous sport. A cowboy who falls from an animal can be seriously injured. If the cowboy is not distracted by specially trained people (bullfighters) in time, the animal can injure the rider.
Although bull and horse rodeos are considered the best-known rodeos, the sport also includes other disciplines:
- Wild cow milking;
- Lassoing a bull;
- The baby sheep rodeo.
10. Paragliding
Paragliding is an extreme parachuting sport. It uses a special parachute – a paraglider.
It is classified as the lightest flying machine. The flight speed does not exceed 70 km / h, and the weight of the paraglider – is 7 kg. The main part of the paraglider – is the wing, which holds the athlete in the air. The wing is controlled by slings.
The world record in the distance of paraglider flight is 764 km, and in climb rate – is 4.3 km. It’s the easiest type of parachuting sport to learn. At the same time, the main danger for a person is a high meteorological dependency on the device: sharp gusts of wind can make it difficult or even impossible for a sportsman to control a paraglider.
All most extreme sports are connected with high altitudes, depths, or speeds. The slightest mistake while making dangerous jumps or dives can cost lives. Nevertheless, this does not stop thrill-seekers.
