Nik Wallenda, sister plan highwire walk over Times Square
NEW YORK — For his next trick, daredevil Nik Wallenda plans to cross New York’s Times Square — without his feet touching the ground.
ABC announced Thursday that Wallenda and his sister Lijana will cross the tourist hotspot during a 1,300-foot simultaneous highwire walk 25 stories above the ground. ABC will air the attempt during a two-hour prime-time special on June 23.
It will be Lijana Wallenda’s first highwire walk since a 2017 accident in Florida left her and four other members of the family’s troupe seriously injured . The Times Square walk will involve unspecified safety devices, but organizers say it does not eliminate all risks.
ABC says the siblings will start from opposite ends of the wire, which will be suspended between two of Times Square’s towers, including one that is home to The New York Times.
Nik Wallenda said in a statement: “I am beyond excited to be able to walk with my sister, Lijana, as she overcomes near-death injuries and continues the Wallenda tradition of never giving up.”
His feats have included a 1,800-foot tightrope walk from the New York side of Niagara Falls into Canada in 2012 and a 2013 crossing of the Little Colorado River Gorge near the Grand Canyon.
The special, which is being produced by dick clark productions, will include footage of the siblings’ preparations and their family’s history of death-defying stunts.
