Most people can only dream of jumping across rooftops and performing backflips over eye-popping drops, but for Ed Scott that is just day-to-day life.
That’s because Scott is a freerunner, so rather than commute into the office, the 24-year-old Brit spends his days scouting out the best locations to perform daring stunts. His current location is Astypalea – a Greek island which is hosting Red Bull’s long-standing competition Art of Motion.
Astypalea is a paradise for holiday-goers, with its bright blue skies and seas and characteristic white buildings set on rocky hillsides, but resembles a giant playground for the world’s best freerunners. The island’s topography, tight-knit houses and flat roofs combine to create a perfect scene for stunts.
Art of Motion brings 16 athletes from all over the world together for three days of competition which combines athletics, gymnastics and creativity. The event asks the world’s best freerunners to find the perfect spot, perform their most daring, technically difficult and scary stunts and film them.
The first day of action on Thursday was the exploration challenge, which tasked the competitors with putting together three clips to be judged.
Scott, who is from Exeter and has come second in the last two editions of Red Bull Art of Motion, got off to a great start, with the judges loving his entry, which saw him leap over a gap between roofs and perform an extremely difficult trick precisely without sustaining any injuries.
Scott said: “I am so stoked! I can’t actually quite believe it, because I was watching all the other athletes do what they’re so good at and I thought there was no way I would place in the top five, but I played to my own strengths with my own tricks and it’s worked out.”
Scott was awarded the maximum seven points, giving him the lead over compatriot Travis Verky from Dorchester and American Shea Rudolph, Russian Evgeny 'Archie' Aroyan and Swede Elis Torhall.
After day one France’s Lilou Ruel leads the women’s competition, ahead of Sydney Olson (USA) and Miranda Tibbling (Sweden).
Friday will see all the athletes take on the Spot Challenge, which forces them to think quickly and adapt to an all-new set-up. The competitors will be dropped in a rooftop location featuring never attempted before set-ups, stacked on top of each other. They will then have just a few hours to film a video.
Day one’s finished products make for jaw-dropping viewing set amid such picturesque locations, but the difficulty and danger of creating them was underlined.
Japanese freerunner Ryuya Kawasaki was forced to retire injured after injuring ankle performing a ‘cartahara’ trick and last year’s winner, Poland’s Krystian Kowalewski, had to sit out the challenge following a nasty landing on his very first trick of the day.
Red Bull Art of Motion is also offering fans the chance to vote for their favourite clips from today’s incredible action. Videos from Thursday’s challenge will go live on www.redbullartofmotion.com on June 10 and voting is open for 48 hours.
