Strait of Messina: interview with Jaan Roose, the first athlete to cross it on a wire

“I can’t stop thinking about the madness I did last week on the Strait of Messina.” Madness, for Jaan Roose, is slackliner (a kind of tightrope walker who, instead of walking on a rope, walks on a flat piece of cloth without using a balance) most famous in the world, was his last and most daring feat: travel the 3.6 km that separate Calabria from Sicily on a 1.9 cm wide ribbon, suspended approximately 230 metres above the ground. Time taken: three hours. If it hadn’t been for a slip a few steps from the finish line (luckily he was tied with a safety hook!), he would have written his name in the Guinness Book of Records. “No big deal,” comments the 32-year-old Estonian, raising his eyes from the floor, calm as a calm sea, “for me the feat was a success: I reached the other side. And I learned a lot.”

First lesson of the Messina challenge designed by Team Red Bull: “Even if I trained ten times harder, it wouldn’t be enough. Nothing is ever enough.”. And this is from someone who doesn’t skimp on training: Jaan has spent the last seven months driving four hours a day to train for long distances: “I usually do it in the woods behind my house, but here I had to learn to walk for 5 km without stopping and the only place I could do it was on the other side of the country.”

Second lesson: “The unexpected can always happen”. Years ago, the unexpected was a scorching heat, 50°, while walking between two mountain formations in Kazakhstan. Another time, an insect bite in one eye, during the 580-meter crossing to connect two imposing rocks in Kenya. This time, the fall 80 meters from the finish line: “I knew that the final part was the most difficult. The tape was made of a different material, the slope was uphill. I was exhausted but I had faith.” In God, in destiny or in something like that? “None of that. I only believe in willpower. Which, perhaps, this time made me take a few steps too quickly».

Third lesson: “There’s no running”. On the slackline and in life. Jaan usually doesn’t do this: “I never rush towards a goal: everything can change at any moment. It’s better to be flexible and know how to adapt to different situations.” And above all: “It’s better to think step by step. While I was crossing the Strait of Messina I knew what my final goal was, to get to the other side. But in my mind I had to put it on the back burner. There slackline It is made of pieces assembled together, each 200 meters long. The connections can be seen with the naked eye, I concentrated on those: I had to travel 200 meters, then another 200, until the end».

Jaan Roose halfway through the feat (photo Andrea Zafferoni, Red Bull Content Pool).

Andrea Zaffaroni

Jaan puts the same wisdom into practice in life, where he paints light desires like watercolors, which must not become granite objectives, but guides so that the next 200 meters are pleasant. Example: he would like to do the slackliner as long as possible but even today, despite being considered the number one in the world, despite having supported himself thanks to this activity for about 15 years, he still struggles to define it as “his job”. Motivation: “I don’t like to think that it is something indispensable, I wouldn’t want to feel like a failure if I had to stop because of an injury. For me it slacklining It’s a fun practice, to be done one project at a time“. The next one? “In the immediate future I will do some shows for private companies and I am about to start shooting a film as a stuntman.” The third one, after Assassin’s Creed in 2016 and Wonder Woman 1984 in 2020.

He enjoys his work as a stunt double and set builder so much that he doesn’t rule out the possibility that, when he’s no longer old enough to dedicate himself to “crazy undertakings”, it could become his main occupation. Maybe together with that of a parent? “Why not, I would like to have children,” he admits. Immediately after, however, he recognizes the difficulties of living next to a person like him: “My schedule is very uncertain, it requires great flexibility from me and my partner”. So there is a companion: «There is, for now». It is forbidden to express oneself beyond the 200th meter. Not even when we ask him what the next «crazy enterprise» will be: «I do not share my objectives until they are absolutely certain».

Many of his previous goals were suggested to him by his fan community, 50,000 on Instagram alone. But he has always pursued them alone: ​​”I’ve never had coaches or teammates. I’ve done everything myself, since I started at 18.” The meeting with the slacklining for Jaan it happened almost by chance: at the time he was dedicated to parkour (the art of moving from point A to point B in a city overcoming any obstacle, such as gates, walls or tracks), and was particularly fond of balance and acrobatics. During a demonstration he came across a vending machine slackline. He tries the new discipline and is immediately struck by it. Only one hesitation: «The ribbon was expensive, not much but it was expensive. And I wasn’t used to asking my parents for money». His father, a builder, and his mother, a saleswoman, soon became his first supporters, together with his sister, who is now a full-time mother: «For a long time it was just me and her. I come from a village in the Estonian countryside that must have 40, maximum 50 inhabitants. There were not many children to play with. To meet peers we had to go to school, an hour’s bike ride from home. I grew up alone. Not that I mind, on the contrary. The subject I was best at was carpentry, because it allowed me to spend hours and hours focused on a project, without anyone around. And even today I prefer to be on my own, rather than go to a party with friends. I’m fine in solitude, I’m at ease”. I’ve never been afraid that from comfort zone self-isolation would turn into a cage? “Never. The only thing that scares me is finding myself doing something I don’t like. That terrifies me, not loneliness, not heights.”

Are you saying that when he is up there, alone with himself and suspended in the void, he is never afraid? «No, a little fear is useful. Without it, the mind would not be able to manage the risk. Awareness of the danger is the only way to face it. And overcome it».