Highline World Championships in Laax: athletics, acrobatics and thrills at lofty heights

Cheers, applause and then silence. Cecilia Stock, 29-year-old finalist at the Laax Highline World Championships, is preparing for her next combo at a height of 20 metres. She bounces up and down on the slack line to gain enough momentum and height for the tricks.

Shoulder stands, turns around the line and rotations all follow in quick succession. «Back Yoda, Nevermind to Feet, Underflip, Kamikaze,» the commentator describes the tricks. «Wonderful, it takes incredible skills to do that with so much elegance,» he adds.

Competitor and defending champion Louise Lenoble from France’s moves are no less dynamic, rotating around the line from a few metres away like a somersault and trying to score points with challenging sequences of tricks. She falls a few times and lands on the safety line instead of on her feet. Will she still be able to defend her 2022 world championship title?

After some thrilling battles, the new world champions are crowned

In the freestyle battle format, two athletes compete against each other. Once the first has performed a combo, the second responds with a sequence of tricks that plays with the theme, continues it, or gives it a new twist. This creates a creative choreography where everyone can demonstrate their own style and strengths.

At the end, there’s Best Trick – a showcase for new sequences of flips, spins and rotations that have never been performed in a competition before. This shows how collaborative the sport is. As the competitors are seeing the trick for the first time – just like the spectators – but have the chance to imitate it for bonus points, the creators explain the sequence of movements and give tips on how to achieve the trick. This creates collaboration instead of competition, which helps everyone progress.

«It’s incredible how quickly the sport is developing,» says commentator Ian Eisenberg, who’s also an experienced, successful highliner. «A few years ago, we were wondering if a trick was even possible. Now we’re seeing it with a triple twist.»

The freestylers’ combinations are scored using a points system that factors in difficulty, execution and style. Points are deducted for falls onto the safety line.

Things are tense until the very last moment after three packed days of competition. Then the judges decide: Cecilia Stock wins the women’s final and is the new world champion in highline freestyle. Cheers break out. «Ceci, Ceci,» chant the fans. The German-Italian had already won the speed final the day before.

«It’s an absolute dream come true for me,» says the newly crowned two-time world champion. «I’m so happy and grateful.» She won the speed competition ahead of Brazilian Erika Sedlacek and beat defending champion Louise Lenoble from France in the freestyle.

In the men’s category, German Sascha Grill won the speed world championship and Spaniard David Palomo – aka Sakalomo – gained the freestyle world title. «I still can’t believe it. I worked so hard for this and now I’m just exhausted,» says Sakalomo, who wrapped himself in a Spanish flag for the awards ceremony. It’s only when he finds out that the champions of each discipline have been invited to the Slackline World Cup in China that you can see the delight on his face.

The best Swiss woman was Mélanie Béguelin in speedline, finishing in 6th, while the top placed Swiss finisher in the men’s competition was in freestyle – also 6th – in the form of Samuel Volery. The 40-year-old co-owner of the company Slacktivity is considered one of the founders of the freestyle discipline and, back in the day, he performed tricks on the highline that were considered dangerous and almost impossible at the time. Since then, he’s set multiple highline records and pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in slacklining.

Exciting competitions in two disciplines

Slacklining sprang out of the climbing community in California in the 1970s and has become increasingly popular around the world in recent decades. Alongside Brazil, Germany and Austria, Switzerland is a slacklining hotspot. The Swiss Slackline association estimates that one in 20 Swiss people owns a slackline.

So, it’s not surprising that the second slacklining world championship after 2022 took place in Switzerland. «The Crap Sogn Gion offers a unique and spectacular backdrop for an event like this,» says Nina Mappes, President of the Swiss Slackline association. In addition, the Galaaxy mountain station has the necessary infrastructure. This includes the possibility to stretch several lines of the same length next to each other to ensure a fair competition for the 26 men and 16 women from 14 nations.

Unlike tightrope walking, the synthetic fibre band – which is between 2.5 and 5 centimetres wide – is stretched loosely. This means that it sways, swings, bounces and bobs with every movement, making balancing even more challenging.

In addition to the spectacular freestyle category, the highliners also competed for the world championship title in the speed discipline.

Speedlining is a race on a wobbly line – in Laax it was 60 metres, 15 metres up. It requires the utmost concentration and stamina. Because of the knockout format, newly crowned world champions Sascha and Cecilia had to run the distance around ten times as quickly as possible until they were assured of the title. «I was absolutely exhausted afterwards,» says Cecilia. Because as easy and relaxed as running across the line looks, it’s impossible without years of training.

Sascha Grill, winner of the men’s speedline, knows this too. He started slacklining when he was 15. First just as a hobby in the park, but then he caught the bug. «It’s so much fun to challenge yourself and keep improving and beat your personal best,» says the 22-year-old. He’s come a long way in recent years: «The first time I was on the highline, it took a lot of effort for me to even stand up,» he says.

This feeling of fear and overcoming comes up in almost all the conversations I have with the slackliners at the World Championships. Because walking or doing somersaults on a swaying, wobbling line at a height goes against all human protective instincts. Nevertheless, balancing really appeals to people. The small practice slackline that was set up for spectators was extremely popular, and not just with children.

The world champion is a tightrope walker by profession

Cecilia is one of the few who can combine a passion for balancing at heights with professional ambitions. She completed a five-year dual course at circus school and in the theatre departments at university in Paris and Turin. At circus school, her main focus was on tightrope walking.

When she took part in a highline workshop – where the slackline is stretched at a great height – she knew: «This is my new passion.» Cecilia’s father, Ulrich Stock, is among the first to congratulate her. Even though, as he says, he’s certainly not the kind of father who pushes his daughter to achieve top sporting performances. On the contrary, when she told him years ago that she wanted to be a circus artist, he was sceptical. «That was a big question mark at first,» he remembers. «And now she’s a two-time world champion,» he adds, beaming. «I’m absolutely delighted.»

For Cecilia, one of the best parts of highlining is that she spends so much time outside in the fresh air and interacts with the outside world and the elements, especially the wind. Another is that she has to concentrate on the line and constantly be in the here and now. It’s pure mindfulness. She finds it increasingly easy to find her balance on the swinging, bobbing line. «Sometimes I’m better at it on the slackline than in normal life,» she says.

If you’re curious and would like to try slacklining, you’ll find a selection of slackline products in our range. Information on slackline events, disciplines and training opportunities is available from the Swiss Slackline association, the German Slackline Association or other regional and national clubs and organisations.