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103-Year-Old Woman Breaks Record for Oldest Tandem Skydiver
Sweden’s Rut Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson went skydiving on May 29, becoming the oldest person in history to tandem jump.
Rut Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson, of Sweden, has become the oldest person to jump out of an airplane. The 103-year-old jumped in tandem with instructor Joackim Johansson at Motala, Sweden’s Linköpings Fallskärmsklubb dropzone (don’t worry, we don’t know how to pronounce it either).
Despite her age, Larsson isn’t a longtime flyer. She actually started skydiving at the ripe old age of 102, though she developed an interest in aerial sports after going paragliding for the first time when she was 90.
New record: Oldest tandem parachute jump (female) – Rut Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson at the age of 103 years and 259 days.
She first tried paragliding at the age of 90, and did her first parachute jump at the age of 102 👀 https://t.co/mVtDrksfim
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) June 14, 2022
Larrson is a mother to five children, as well as 19 grandchildren and a whopping 30 great-grandchildren, all of whom were waiting on the tarmac to congratulate her after her jump. In addition to jumping out of planes, she reportedly also enjoys solving crossword puzzles and singing in her local choir.
“It was wonderful to do this, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” she said following her successful landing. “Nowadays I don’t see so well, but it felt good,” she said when asked about the sights during her flight.
Larrson’s tandem jump didn’t blow away the pre-existing record by years, however, but by mere days. Prior to her flight on May 29, the oldest male skydive was completed by American Alfred “Al” Blaschke, who jumped at the age of 103 years and 181 days in 2020 at Skydive Spaceland San Marcos in Texas. The oldest female skydive, meanwhile, was held by Kathryn “Kitty” Hodges, also American, at the age of 103 years and 129 days in 2019 at Skydive Snohomish in Washington.
Larrson, meanwhile, was 259 days past her 103rd birthday when she jumped with Johansson. She noted that she planned to celebrate her record “with a little cake.”
Published: June 20, 2022 | Last Updated: August 1, 2022
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