Freddy Nock came from the Nock circus family and achieved several world records with his performances on the high wire.
This year, Nock intended to set new standards with a high-wire stunt world record attempt at an altitude of between 5,000 and 10,000 metres above sea level.
Nock was looking for the “ultimate challenge for body and mind” in his stunts and is constantly pushing the boundaries further and further, according to his website.
A trial against Nock caused quite a stir in the media in November 2020. The Aargau High Court acquitted Nock of the charge of attempting to deliberately kill his wife. The district court of Zofingen had previously sentenced him to a partial prison sentence of 2.5 years.
During the hearings before the district court and the high court, it became clear that Nock and his wife had a difficult relationship that was also characterised by violence. Nock’s defence lawyer spoke of a “toxic relationship” and “a wild marriage”. The police had to visit his home several times.
The High Court awarded him CHF11,000 in damages and CHF12,000 in compensation for loss of earnings. The artist had several performances cancelled as a result of the proceedings.
More
More
Wind defeats record-breaking tightrope walker
This content was published on
Nock, who never uses safety harnesses, had already tried once on Saturday, making it 400 metres across the lake in canton Bern before deciding the wind speeds were too high. He considered it again on Sunday but the weather conditions hadn’t improved. He had been trying to break seven world records in seven days. Lake…
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Science
Switzerland now has a Professor of Gender Medicine. She’s here to stay.
Is reforming the Swiss pension system still possible, and if so, how?
Solutions still need to be found to meet the challenge of an ageing population and to improve the pensions of low-paid workers, the majority of whom are women.
Swiss air traffic control upgrade slows tempo for safety reasons
This content was published on
The upgrade of Switzerland’s air traffic control system will take longer than anticipated following a series of malfunctions.
Switzerland remains ‘world’s most innovative country’
This content was published on
Switzerland remains the world's most innovative country, still ahead of Sweden and the US on the WIPO Global Innovation Index.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.