Tightrope walker Nik Wallenda and his sister, Lijana Wallenda, successfully completed Saturday night a dual walk across a 460-foot wire 150 feet above the race track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The brother and sister started on opposite sides of the tight rope, and crossed in the middle with Nik stepping over his sister before they continued on.
"It was exciting to perform together again," said Nik Wallenda, who earned worldwide attention when he crossed the Little Colorado River Gorge and Niagara Falls. "We don't perform like this very often. We've never performed this high and this far apart before and this was the first time in many, many years."
Earlier this year, Nik Wallenda made history when he crossed over the Grand Canyon on a 2-inch-think steel cable set 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River. Wallenda is well known for his Christian faith as he prays unceasingly throughout the walk.
Nik Wallenda, who is a seventh-generation member of the famous Flying Wallenda family of acrobats. He is known for his high-wire performances without a safety net. Wallenda holds seven Guinness World Records for various acrobatic feats. In 2013, he released a memoir entitled Balance. Wallenda is married with three children, and considers his Christian faith to be a central aspect of his life.
"I didn't know why God had given us this gift, but I knew in my heart that the only way to honor it was to use it. Even if it was difficult, even if it was dangerous. Danger was real, but fear was a choice. I would choose faith instead - after all, that was a part of my family legacy too. Everything we did was for the glory of God," he said.
