Daredevil tiptoes across Niagara Falls

“Oh my God, this is an incredible view. I’m so blessed to be in the position I am, to be the first person to be right here and to be the first person in the world who will ever be right here. This is truly breathtaking,” said Mr. Wallenda, who was wired for sound. The global television audience was estimated to be in the millions.

The 33-year-old is a seventh-generation member of the Great Wallendas, a family circus troupe best known for their flying trapeze stunts. But Mr Wallenda outshone his great, great, great, great grandfather last night, tiptoeing across 600,000 gallons of water separating the US and Canada. He presented his American passport to Canadian officials at the end of his feat.

It took Mr Wallenda two years to get government permission for the performance – he doesn’t like the word “stunt” – a daredevil feat that had more than 100,000 spectators holding their breath in both countries.

Tense moments

Helicopters hovered. The stadium lights were on and the television cameras poised and the crowd stood hushed as he walked across the 550 metre-long cable. His father’s voice was in his ear encouraging him the entire time.

Toward the end of the journey, he raised his right arm to salute the cheering crowd and sprinted the last few steps to embrace his wife and children waiting.

“The mist was so thick, so challenging, those winds hit me from every which direction, was definitely more than I expected for sure,” Mr. Wallenda said moments after reaching the Canadian side of the falls.

His next step?

He forearms tensed up and he had to stop himself from running: “You gotta take your time, step by step,” he said. He said his feats are 80 percent mental and 20 per cent physical.

And he’s not retiring yet. His next trick? He wants to be the first person to walk across the more than a mile high Grand Canyon in Arizona, and he already has the permits.

US Broadcaster ABC insisted he wear a harness as a requirement for them to televise his walk. At about 10:15pm, he stepped gingerly out onto the wire.

Just another day at the office

He held a nearly 40 pound balance pole, emerging out of the mist as though he were walking on air but he struggled in the rain and wind to hold his balance on an undulating wire.

Mr Wallenda is the first person to cross the gorge since James Hardy, 21, in 1896. Mr Hardy also survived.

“To me it is normal,” he said.