Highlines completed without falling are considered classic records in highlining:
The first highline world record in Switzerland was set in 2014 by Julian Mittermaier (DE) (224 m – in Valais).
This was followed by world records by the Swiss Raphael Bacot and Remy Boser, together with Julian Mittermaier (180 m polyamide record), also in Valais; shortly afterwards, Raphael and Remy also became the first Swiss to run 250 m in France.
The first highline registered with the BAZL was a 540m line near the Churfirsten in eastern Switzerland in 2015. An incident caused quite a stir here, as the highline suffered damage and broke during a thunderstorm and could not yet be climbed at this attempt. This was the first of Samuel Volery’s many ambitious projects.
Shortly afterwards, Samuel Volery ran 477 metres at the Moleson Highline Extreme Event – a world record at the time. It was Czech Danny Mensik and Frenchman Nathan Paulin who were the first to conquer the kilometre on the Highline (in France) in April 2016.
Shortly afterwards, Raphael Bacot and Samuel Volery ran 800 m in France, which was a Swiss record.
In 2016, Samuel Volery also conquered the 540m long and very exposed highline on the Churfirsten on his second attempt:
Another 1.1 km project by Samuel Volery in Morocco was also unsuccessful due to a storm.
In May 2017, Samuel Volery ran the new world record of 1.2 km in Turkey.
In June 2017, four Frenchmen ran 1.6 km (one mile).
In september 2018, a team led by Samuel Volery attempted to raise the record to 2.8 km in Norway, but due to the stormy weather, only 2.5 km could be run in the best attempt (by Quirin Herterich, DE) – so the record did not count.
This was followed by the currently valid highline records of 1.9 km and 2 km in Canada in 2018 and 2019. The current record holders are Mia Noblet, CA and Lukas Irmler, DE.
In 2019, the then longest highline in Switzerland (800 metres long) was completed in the UNESCO World Heritage Tectonic Arena Sardona above Flims.
In 2020, another 2 km highline was successfully climbed in Norway by Quirin Herterich, DE.
In 2021, a 2.1 km long highline was also successfully completed in Norway by Quirin Herterich, Lukas Irmler, Friedi Kühne and Ruben Langer
In 2021, 11 athletes completed the longest highline in Switzerland, which is 900 meters long, in Jaman, VD.
Another 900 m highline took place in Emosson VS in 2023, this was the Swiss women’s record, set by Zoé Sprüngli.
Ambitious projects are already planned for the future.
You can find an overview of the world records on the website of the International Federation.