The fourth hundredth time to set foot on the road to Tianmen Mountain, Zhang Shupeng was not only to reach the summit, but also to fly down from the peak after reaching the summit.
Put on the flight suit, jump down from the bridge, high-rise buildings, and more often from the steep cliffs, with the help of gravity and wind taxiing, with the accurate control of body movements and the measurement of climate and geographical conditions to achieve accurate flight.
This is the daily life of Zhang Shupeng, a wingsuit flyer and the creator of the world record for tripartite flying.
Wingsuit flying is known as the "craziest extreme sport" in the world, with only more than 600 people in the world daring to try it, and only more than 100 "wingsuit pilots" in the true sense. Zhang Shupeng, born in 1985, is currently the only athlete in China and even Asia who is qualified to participate in the Wingsuit Flying World Championships as a professional athlete.
Before coming into contact with Zhang Shupeng, just watching the video of the wingsuit flying could make my heart mention the throat eye, and it was hard to imagine how bold and crazy people who really engaged in this sport would be.
In order to record Zhang Shupeng's preparation training, we went with him to tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie City, where the wingsuit flying world championships were held, which was also a training ground that he was very familiar with.
Modern wingsuit flying was born in the 1990s of the last century, and today it has gradually matured, and the Wingsuit Flying World Championship in Tianmen Mountain, Zhangjiajie, is the sport's first truly competitive world event.
Since 2012, Tianmen Mountain has hosted the Wingsuit Flying World Championships every autumn, and this year is the sixth edition. Unfortunately, two foreign players have been killed here. In 2013, Hungarian athlete Viktor Kovac fell off a cliff during a test flight; this year, Canadian athlete Graham Dickinson also suffered an accident while practicing.
Wingsuit pilots, which are already very rare, because such accidents are paid attention to and reported by the media, many times people can often see the words "high mortality" when they understand the relevant information of wingsuit flight, and many of them use accidents to exaggerate and consume the risk of sports.
Therefore, when he saw a tweet by a local public account before the game with the title of "This year's wingsuit flying competition, pinching your finger will kill people", Zhang Shupeng felt angry and powerless, and felt that this was like a curse.
He did not want to see someone maliciously hyping up such a heavy thing as death in order to attract attention, nor did he want the media to overemphasize death and make people misunderstand the wingsuit flight.
"Some media outlets will exaggerate the risks of the sport, how many people have died ... This is something I don't want to see, but I have no way to control it, to stop it, to keep myself from saying such things. ”
Although Zhang Shupeng does not want to explain the popular "this sport has a 30% mortality rate", and has also proved that he has flown countless times in person, wingsuit flight can indeed fly safely, but we cannot deny the high risk of this sport.
Before each Wingsuit Flying World Championship, athletes sign a waiver agreement with the World Wingsuit Federation, and the organizers are not responsible in the event of an accident. This detail also made me realize that even the most crazy extreme sports have their "limits".
Compared to the thrill of adrenaline rushing from the peak of the mountain, for athletes who love wingsuit flight, it is more important to ensure safe flight through meticulous inspection and repeated practice. On this basis, unique experiences and honors are more meaningful.
Just like Zhang Shupeng's words and deeds revealed his desire for a wingsuit flying world championship, the reason is simple, he wants to do the athlete thing to the extreme. "I position myself as a professional athlete, so my goal in the field of competition is to be a world champion."
Unfortunately, at this year's World Championships, Zhang Shupeng made a mistake in the racing flight event, and only won the runner-up in the target-piercing event. The target-piercing project was actually his advantage, he had successfully smashed a balloon with a diameter of 8.5 centimeters and the size of an apple in the flight path, setting a world record for wingsuit flight through the smallest target.
"Maybe I received too many blessings and support from everyone along the way, my mentality was not adjusted, and I put a little pressure on myself." At next year's World Championships, he hopes he can make up for his regrets.
As the only professional wingsuit flyer in China, Zhang Shupeng has long been accustomed to arranging training plans, contacting the media, setting challenge goals, and moving towards the goal step by step. Even if there are few companions on this road, there are even few people who can understand.
But despite all his concerns, he is also enjoying the experience that only a few hundred people on earth have had—skimming the sky at the speed of a high-speed train, gliding along a ridgeline, stretching freely, even turning over to face the sky and blending into the pale blue.
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