A new world record has been set in 'death diving' after a self-styled 'Viking' jumped 40.5 meters (132 feet) into the Norwegian Sea.
Ken Stornes made the record-breaking jump and shared the footage on Instagram, showing him completing the jump with sheer rock walls on one side and floating ice shards on the other.
Death diving is an extreme sport that originated in Norway and involves jumping from a great height with outstretched arms and landing in a cannonball or pike position, as the new record holder perfectly demonstrates.
The 35-year-old captioned his post: 'Once again we're bringing the world record for death diving back to Norway where it belongs. This was crazy!'
His compatriot Asbjorg Nesje is the women's record holder with 30.5m.
Ken Stornes broke the world death diving record with a jump of 40.5 meters in Norway – the footage of which he posted on Sunday
The self-proclaimed Viking (pictured) has also jumped from pylons in the snow from a height of 10 meters
The video, posted Sunday, begins with the infantry veteran throwing a large rock into the water far below him.
While this may seem like a clever way to break the water tension prior to the jump and soften the fall, it is actually a method used to help the diver better visualize the length of their fall.
For 'freestyle' death divers – who perform tricks in the air – it also helps distinguish the rippling water from a flatter environment as they rotate through the air.
Whether a stone is thrown or not, the technique of entering the water must be correct to avoid serious injury from such heights.
Stornes then begins what seems like an eternity falling through the sky before crashing into the water.
He is quickly met by a team of people at the bottom to immediately check his welfare and remove him from the icy water; a timely reminder not to attempt this at home or anywhere else if you are untrained or unsupervised.
The heartbreaking clip ends with the group at the bottom, and those filming at the top, off the cliff screaming in disbelief as their world record holder emerges from the deep blue.
They then pulled him to the boat before landing him in the town of Stryn, an area he had identified as a possible place to break the record during a summer road trip.
Unsurprisingly, given his new-found record-holder status, this isn't Stornes' first death-diving excursion.
He's also backed up his Viking tag with a smaller – but still scarily high – jump into a snow-ringed pool while holding two hand axes.
He captioned that clip from last year with “when you play too much God of War,” referring to the unmistakable character Kratos in the game series of that name.
Stornes isn't limited to death diving (Dods, in Norwegian) – his extreme activities, documented on his social media, extend to jumping into deep snow from 10 meters high, and being catapulted into icy water while wielding an axe.
The new record holder grew up in extreme conditions.
He grew up in the Norwegian town of Harstad, far inside the Arctic Circle, before joining the military.
He also backed up his Viking tag with a smaller – but still scarily high – jump into a snow-ringed pool while holding two hand axes.
He also had himself thrown into ice-cold water while wielding an ax (see above)
A man of many talents, in addition to this hybrid career as an extreme sports influencer and his military background, Stornes also has a history as an MMA fighter.
In 2018, he won a silver medal in his class (-91 kilograms) at the ADCC Norway Open after two points victories and a defeat by submission.
“I am someone who has to do things,” he told the media NRK in his home country: 'I like to have something to strive for, and I like to do things that can be a bit risky.
“At least it makes me feel alive.”
But despite these achievements, Stornes cannot call itself World Champion of Dods, because it has its own World Championships every year, which the record holder did not attend last time.