World Record Set for Longest Rail Grind

Swedish freeskier Jesper Tjäder slides in to freeski history by setting a new Guinness World Record for the longest rail grind on skis

Olympic bronze medalist and World Cup winner Jesper Tjäder successfully slid on skis down a metal rail for 154.49 meters (506ft 10.3 in) on May 9th in Åre, Sweden.

The 28-year-old jumped on the rail at a speed of about 77 kilometres per hour (47.85 mph) and landed with the leading ski on the rail eight metres in.

It’s a feat six years in the making, the challenge setting in his mind in 2016 on seeing American freeskier Tom Wallisch set the world record with a 129.2-metre (424 feet) rail slide at the World X Games.

“I’ve done a lot of tricks on rails before, but never near such a long rail as this,” explained the Swedish freeskier. “I felt like that would be a good mission to have, and when Tom Wallish broke the record it looked insane. So, I thought I have to try that too.”

Shout out to Tom Wallish for pushing the limits of the sport

It took Tjäder a total of 127 attempts over three days to nail and set the new freeski world record.

“Being the official Guinness World Record holder feels pretty cool,” Tjäder said. “I have dreamt about it since I was a kid. This rail was a hard challenge, and my guess was that it would take about 525 attempts, but it went way easier than I expected.”

“I had a few good attempts, but then it just happened and it felt good all the way through,” he explained, right after completing the historic slide. “Shout out to Tom Wallish for pushing the limits of the sport, we wouldn’t be here sliding this far if it wasn’t for him.”

Watch the video here: