Vertigo sufferers, look away now! Here we celebrate all things vertical and vertiginous, from bouncing pogo-stick riders and super-springing sharks to towering ocean waves and homes beyond the stratosphere. Have you got a head for heights?
On 13 May 2016, Evan Ungar (CAN) leapt from a standing position on to a platform measuring 1.616 m (5 ft 3.6 in) high. Fitness director Ungar achieved the record in front of a 100-strong crowd at One Health Clubs in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
Cinderella May a Holly Grey, owned by Kate Long and Kathleen Conroy of Miami, Florida, USA, jumped 5 ft 8 in (1.727 m) at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge National Finals in Missouri, USA, on 7 Oct 2006.
Stefka Kostadinova (BGR) cleared a high jump of 2.09 m (6 ft 10.28 in) at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome, Italy, on 30 Aug. She set seven career indoor and outdoor high jump world records.
Jocke Olsson (SWE) achieved a height of 2.35 m (7 ft 8 in) on the set of L’Eté De Tous Les Records on 6 Jul 2005. This was equalled by Terence Bougdour (FRA) on the same show on 27 Jul 2005.
On 27 Jul 1993, Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor leapt 2.45 m (8 ft 0.45 in) in Salamanca, Spain. No one else has ever jumped above 8 ft (2.44 m). Sotomayor also recorded the highest high jump (indoors) – 2.43 m (7 ft 11.6 in), in Budapest, Hungary, on 4 Mar 1989.
On 15 Oct 2016, Biff Hutchison (USA) leapt 3.36 m (11 ft 0.2 in) on a pogo stick in Burley, Idaho, USA. He had first broken the record in 2013 at Pogopalooza 10, where he jumped 2.93 m (9 ft 7.3 in).
In 2012, Matthew Lucci (USA) designed a toaster capable of ejecting a slice of toasted bread to a height of 15 ft (4.57 m). The previous best was 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in), achieved in 2008.
Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva successfully cleared a height of 5.06 m (16 ft 7 in) in Zurich, Switzerland, on 28 Aug 2009. It was the 17th time she had broken the outdoor world record since 2003.
The shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) is capable of leaping up to 6 m (19 ft 8 in) out of the water, even directly into fishermen’s boats. This is due in part to the mako’s great speed: at 56 km/h (34.8 mph), it is also the fastest shark.
On 15 Feb 2014, Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) vaulted a height of 6.16 m (20 ft 2.5 in) during the Pole Vault Stars meeting in Donetsk, Ukraine. The previous record of 6.15 m (20 ft 2.12 in), set by Sergei Bubka (UKR), had stood for almost 21 years.
On 13 Nov 2010, Dominic Cuzzacrea (USA) tossed a pancake to a height of 9.47 m (31 ft 1 in) at the Walden Galleria mall in Cheektowaga in New York, USA. Cuzzacrea also holds the record for fastest marathon flipping a pancake – 3 hr 2 min 27 sec, on 24 Oct 1999.
Professor Splash, aka Darren Taylor (USA), dived from 11.56 m (37 ft 11 in) into 30 cm (12 in) of water on CCTV - Guinness World Records Special in Xiamen, China, on 9 Sep 2014.
In Dec 2016, scientists from the World Meteorological Organization ratified a 19‑m (62‑ft 4‑in) wave measured in the North Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and the UK on 4 Feb 2013.
Stuart Jones (NZ) survived a fall of 23 storeys – 70 m (229 ft) – down a lift shaft at the Midland Park building in Wellington, New Zealand, in May 1998.
On 28 Aug 2010, Nik Wallenda (USA) cycled more than 100 ft (30 m) across a 238-ft-high (72.5-m) tightrope between the Royal Towers of the Atlantis Paradise Island hotel in Nassau, The Bahamas.
La Paz, the administrative capital of Bolivia, stands at an altitude of 3,631 m (11,913 ft) above sea level. Bolivia’s legal capital Sucre stands at 2,810 m (9,219 ft), which places it below the Ecuadorian capital of Quito at 2,850 m (9,350 ft).
The Qinghai–Tibet railway in China operates largely at 4,000 m (13,123 ft) above sea level, with a highest point of 5,072 m (16,640 ft). Inaugurated in 2006, the line measures 1,956 km (1,215 mi). Passenger cabins are pressurized and have oxygen masks.
At 7,570 m (24,835 ft), Kangkar Pünzum in Bhutan is ranked as the world’s 40th highest peak, and the highest mountain yet to be climbed. Several failed attempts were made in the 1980s, before a climbing ban was issued in 1994.
On 5 Oct 2016, Russia’s Valery Rozov leapt from a height of around 7,700 m (25,262 ft) from Cho Oyu – the sixthhighest mountain in the Himalayas, located on the China/Nepal border. He fell for around 90 sec before opening his parachute, landing on a glacier approximately 2 min later.
Indian and Chinese surveys have confirmed the official height of Mount Everest in the Himalayas to be 8,848 m (29,029 ft). Named after Colonel Sir George Everest, Surveyor‑ General of India, its peak is the highest point on Earth.
On 29 Nov 1973, a Rüppell’s vulture (Gyps rueppelli) collided with a commercial aircraft at 37,073 ft over Abidjan in the Ivory Coast. The high‑flier is rarely seen above 6,000 m (19,685 ft).
Steve Fossett (USA) piloted a glider at an altitude of 15,460 m (50,721 ft) over El Calafate in Argentina on 29 Aug 2006. The adventurer and multiple record holder disappeared the next year while flying a light aircraft over the Great Basin Desert between Nevada and California, USA.
On 26 Nov 2005, Dr Vijaypat Singhania (IND) achieved an altitude of 21,027 m (68,986 ft) in a Cameron Z-1600 hot-air balloon over Mumbai, India.
Composed of ice crystals, super-cooled water and nitric acid, polar stratospheric or nacreous clouds form at altitudes of 21,000–25,000 m (68,897–82,020 ft).
On 24 Oct 2014, Alan Eustace (USA) was released from a helium‑filled balloon at a height of 41,422 m (135,898 ft) above Roswell in New Mexico, USA.
The International Space Station (ISS) orbits 330,000–410,000 m (205–255 mi) above Earth. It normally has six occupants at any one time.
