Splashes galore as Frisian pole-jumpers reach for the sky
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At 22, Dutch pole-jumper Sytse Bokma is getting to the top of his game literally. But on a muggy summer’s afternoon in rural northern Netherlands, things just weren’t going his way.
Time after time, he scurried up a 13-metre (43-foot) pole before losing his grip and crashing into the water with an almighty splash.
Welcome to the spectacular and age-old Frisian sport of fierljeppen.
Translated from Frisian the second official language in The Netherlands the word fierljeppen literally means “far-leaping”.
It’s a combination of pole vaulting and long jump. The athlete runs as fast as possible until reaching a ramp and leaping onto a carbon fibre pole, loosely anchored in the muddy bottom of a canal.