Pallade Veneta - 'Almost impossible': Brazilian skater Sandro Dias makes history on mega ramp

Dias, six-time world champion in vert (halfpipe) skateboarding, dropped into the colossal ramp on Thursday after months of intense training and years of dreaming.

Guinness World Records certified he had set new records for the highest drop (60 meters) and highest speed (103 kilometres or 64 miles per hour) reached on a skateboard off a temporary quarter pipe.

Dias told AFP in an interview that he had been inspired by the curved facade of an "iconic building" in the southern city of Porto Alegre, which he first saw in the eighties.

"I was a kid, and the imagination of any skater who sees it goes: 'Wow, it looks like a ramp!".

He didn't give it serious thought until 13 years ago, when he had a chance to present a project to his sponsor Red Bull, and proposed the vertiginous drop off the side of the CAFF state government building.

"In my head, it was possible, but it was almost impossible," he said.

Three years ago he finally got the green light.

"I was 47 years old and had never been in a gym to do anything except therapy when I was injured," he said. "I knew I had to prepare my body."

This year he intensified training wearing weighted vests to simulate the gravitational forces he would face -- almost four times his own weight.

He also rode his skateboard while being pushed by a car at speeds of up to 136 km/h.

Mental preparation was also key.

"I didn't let fear take over," he said.

At the end of his record run, after three preliminary tests from progressively increasing heights, Dias raised his arms in victory before hitting the crash pads placed at the end of the ramp, like those used in MotoGP races.

Dias, who helped popularize skateboarding in Brazil, said "retiring doesn't even cross my mind."

"There are many things to come. Skateboarding moves me. Skateboarding is my life and it's what I love to do," he said.

L.Barone--PV