Friedi Kühne

Influenced by his gymnastics background, Kühne began his professional athletic career in tricklining. From 2010 to 2014, he participated in a number of national and international trickline competitions, signed with his first sponsor Elephant Slacklines, and appeared on German television for the first time.[2] In May 2011, Kühne set his first world record by jumping across a 50-meter slackline in one continuous jump combo with his friend Bernd Hassmann.[3] Kühne appeared on the ZDF television program "WETTEN, DASS..." in 2013 for its Christmas edition and wagered that he could extinguish six Christmas candles in a row by surfing back and forth on a slackline without falling and in less than 3.5 minutes. Although he accomplished the task, he took a very close second place by an audience vote at the end of the show.[4][5][6]

Free Solo on the classic Lost Arrow Spire highline in Yosemite Valley, 2018

Kühne's first highline attempt was across Wolfsschlucht canyon in Neubeuern, where he walked a 25 meters across a 30-meter drop when he was 20 years old. Wolfsschlucht became a regular training location for Kühne and his slacklining colleagues including Lukas Irmler and Julian Mittermaier.[7][8] Despite his initial strong focus on tricklining, he proceeded to walk more and more highlines in this canyon and the surrounding Alps. After a college exchange year as a language teaching assistant in the United States in 2015, he shifted his professional focus fully to highlining.[9] Kühne achieved a number of world first highline crossings over 100 meters long in popular areas along the Pacific coast such as Yosemite, Squamish, Smith Rock, Leavenworth, Joshua Tree and the Columbia River Gorge.[10] On festivals during this time, Kühne also became friends with prominent American slackliners like Jerry Miszewski, Andy Lewis and Spencer Seabrooke. Kühne set a number of slackline world records between 2015 and 2021.[8][7]

Kühne first experimented with free solo highlining by slacklining high over water without a harness. He also attempted swami walks, a method of securement that uses only a small tether around the belly or leg instead of a proper safety harness.[9] Kühne completed his first real untethered highline walk over land in the summer of 2014. He crossed a 25-meter highline in Ostrov, Czech Republic, approximately 20 meters in the air. He walked his first taller and more exposed free solos during his year as a teaching assistant in the USA. Due to the dangerous and controversial nature of free solo highlining, he initially kept his interest in the sport a secret and did not allow his walks to be filmed.[9] In August 2016, Kühne was filmed free soloing for the first time when he crossed a 72 meter long, 400 meter tall highline at Hunlen-Falls, British Columbia. With that crossing, he set the free solo highline world record and for the first time acknowledged his controversial passion publicly.[11][12][13]

In the course of his sporting successes, Kühne soon started doing public slackline performances and began a second career as a lecturer. For instance, he balanced at a height of 60m between two church towers over downtown Straubing,[14] at a height of 350m between two skyscrapers in Moscow,[15] and a world record distance of 170m over the Danube,[16] all in front of tens of thousands of spectators. In September 2021, he won third place at the "Discovery Days" lecture festival in Switzerland,[17] and since then has been giving motivational lectures at corporate events and festivals.