Two daring athletes have made history by performing the world’s first synchronised flight between the twin towers of the iconic Bahrain World Trade Centre.
The one-of-a-kind, breathtaking feat was executed by Red Bull wingsuit athletes Dani Román and Fred Fugen, who demonstrated their extreme skills by performing a head-on crossing from opposite directions.
Dropping in at 220kmph each, they closed in at a combined 440 kmph – more than 120 metres every second – and passed the crossing point at the exact same moment, just 10 metres apart.
The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) collaborated with the Interior Ministry, BDF and the Bahrain Olympic Committee for the project that resulted in Red Bull organising the unique event in Manama.
The adrenaline was at its peak for the daring athletes, as well as for the technicians and everyone involved in turning this ambitious mission into reality.
Exiting a Black Hawk helicopter at 4,000ft, the pair accelerated over Manama’s skyline, split into opposing lines, then turned back in for a choreographed approach into the centreline of the iconic towers 40m above the building’s trademark wind turbines.
A daring video of the stunt was released yesterday, though the stunt was executed in Manama last month.
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The two athletes first saw the Bahrain World Trade Centre during a 2022 visit and immediately locked onto its potential for a synchro project.
What followed was a two-year push through planning, permits, simulation work, technical mapping, and flight training.
“Crossing through this building in a synchronised flight has been a dream of ours for the last two years,” said Mr Fugen, the French three-time world champion freeflyer with 20,000 skydives and 1,500 BASE jumps under his belt.
“To imagine something we’d never done before, then work for it and make it happen here in this beautiful building, was an incredible feeling.”
The challenge came in syncing their trajectories so both athletes arrived at the centre line together. Without any instruments or live data, they relied purely on sight, reference points, and physical sensation to match their speed and timing.
“We don’t have a GPS, or any of the information planes have, so the only way we know the speed is by the feeling in our body,” explained Mr Román, a Spanish Red Bull athlete renowned for his high-precision wingsuit and BASE projects.
“It’s tricky because in training, if you get wind from one side, one has a headwind and the other gets a tailwind. I have no idea how, but on the first day of shooting, it worked. Magic happened!”
Their preparation began in France with more than 35 training jumps, using a static drone at 200m to simulate the crossing point and build repeatable reference lines.
These routes were later adapted to the Bahrain World Trade Centre, followed by a second phase of training in Bahrain’s desert to acclimatise to the flying conditions with the local helicopter crew.
Beyond the numbers, the project leaned hard on trust built over years of flying together.
“We spend much more time on the ground together than actually in the sky, so it’s important to have a really good connection. It’s about friendship and having fun together,” said Mr Fugen.
The remarkable feat was achieved due to BTEA’s support, as it facilitated permits, co-ordinated local logistics, and worked closely with partners including the Bahrain Olympic Committee and the local Red Bull team to ensure the athletes’ safety and success.
“It’s hard to make something like this happen in other countries,” said Mr Román.
“All the support we got from the people here, the government – and how open to this project they’ve been – has been incredible.”
Mr Fugen said when they saw each other approaching and realised they had achieved a perfect crossing, the feeling was incredible.
“For us, it’s a huge accomplishment because we managed to fulfil exactly what we dreamed of. We couldn’t have done it better,” he added.
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