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There wasn’t a world record for the goal Rian Kanouff set out to accomplish — so he aimed to set the first official one himself.
Kanouff, of Omaha, spent the whole day skydiving naked.
He did it for a good cause.
Kanouff explained to Lincoln-based 10/11 NOW that the skydiving community has a longstanding tradition of skydivers celebrating their 100th jump by plunging from a plane in their birthday suits.
As if that experience wouldn’t be memorable and meaningful enough, Kanouff kicked it up a few notches.
Rather than only jumping for himself, he did it in honor of friends and family members he had lost to suicide, including a friend who was “close enough that he talked about (his 100th jump) all the time, and he didn’t get to make it,” Kanouff told 10/11 NOW.
That’s why he also worked with the Movember Foundation to help fundraise for suicide prevention, he explained.
Plus, Kanouff contacted the Guiness Book of World Records and found that there wasn’t a current world record for the number of naked skydiving jumps in a 24-hour cycle. But if Kanouff made at least 25 jumps, he’d start the world record, 10/11 NOW reports.
Luckily, Kanouff exceeded more than double the standard with 60 jumps between 4:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. at the Weeping Water Airport on Wednesday (June 16).
“It is so humbling how much my friends and the people I care about are there to care about something I also care about,” Kanouff told 10/11 NOW. “They are not here just to support me they’re here to support what we’re doing and the strength that we all have in this community is something that I think the world needs.”