Foreign athletes join extreme sports on world's highest bridge in China

GUIYANG, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- For Jan Beranek, an extreme sports enthusiast from the Czech Republic, it is a really exciting experience to perform BASE jumping from the world's highest bridge.

Twenty athletes from 11 countries and regions, including Italy, France, Canada and the United States, came to China's Beipanjiang Bridge to participate in the 2023 International High Bridge Extreme Sports Invitational Tournament.

Sitting over 565 meters above a valley, equivalent to the height of a 200-storey building, the bridge has been certified as the world's highest by Guinness World Records.

"The views, the mountains are breathtaking when I'm standing on a bridge. I took a deep breath and jumped, and that's amazing," said Beranek, adding that it was the first time for him to experience BASE jumping in China.

With 92.5 percent of its areas covered by mountains and hills, southwest China's Guizhou Province has built nearly 30,000 bridges, and now is home to nearly half of the 100 highest bridges in the world.

The bridges have not just improved the transport conditions in the region, but also become a unique cultural symbol of Guizhou, said Xu Xianghua, chief engineer from the provincial transport department.

Xiao Jun, deputy director of Guizhou's sports bureau, said the province would continue to promote sports events in an effort to promote integration of bridges, sports and tourism.