Video: Kie Willis parkour on the rooftops of Madinat Jumeirah
Always get lost in Souq Madinat Jumeirah? Us too.
Well XDubai athlete Kie Willis has a solution, don’t navigate the corridors, just jump across the rooftops.
We’re just joking, stick to the corridors and read the signs, please don’t try this at home…
As you can see, London-based parkour athlete Willis jumps over sheer drops, leaps up walls and just generally causes our ticker to skip a beat in the video (again, don’t try this at home).
But Willis says this was “just another day in the office”. No big deal, if you will.
How did he research for this particular free run? “My 12 years of training is my main research,” he explains. “Every athlete knows their capability. This is exactly the same, I learn and I know exactly how far I can jump. I always go to the location beforehand to check the feasibility of the stunts before I attempt them.
“Everything is well within my physical, mental and technical capabilities so that there isn’t any true risk in what I’m doing. It’s not thrill seeking, it’s all very carefully calculated. I’ve done hundreds of thousands of jumps at ground level to learn exactly how I can jump and control it, then I just apply that and rationalise it as much as I can in high level situations.”
And does he often make mistakes? “Most of my mistakes are really stupid things like tripping over a curb! A momentary lapse of concentration is when they happen but the good thing is, there’s no lapse of concentration at height, because I’m so focused the chance of failure is much less. I’m not blasé.”
Will he back in Dubai soon? Yes.
“Dubai is definitely one of my favourite places for parkour and I visit around four times per year. We have a lot of new ideas for the city but I’m not allowed to tell you what they are just yet!”