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Parkour Filmed From Above Is Surprisingly Mesmerizing

Parkour–or “free-running” if you prefer–is nestled somewhere in the long list of skills and hobbies we wish we had focused any amount of time on in our lives. Come to think of it, just actual running is something we probably should focus more time on. So, while we file this activity in the “shoulda” parts of our brains, there are some incredible athletes out in the world completing death-defying stunts with ease.

The video above, recently uploaded by Bulgarian free-runner Ilko ‘ill’ Iliev, shows a collection of parkour-ers? Parkourists? Parkourlewiscantlose?…in a completely new angle that most have likely never seen. Each athlete is filmed from directly above (or their relative “above” for some of the vertical shots) turning the world into what looks like a top-down perspective 2-dimensional video game. To accentuate this, they’ve even go so far as to add some video game graphics in a few spots along  some of the runner’s journeys. This perspective actually seems to add to the nail-biting aspect of watching free-running, since we’re able to literally look all the way down each gap these runners are spanning. Mixed into the video are a number of other stunts of varying difficulty, from scootering (not really a stunt but I really wanted to use the word “scootering”) to motorbike-assisted wake-boarding and something we can only describe as speed-rappelling down the sides of buildings. And if that weren’t enough, the end of the video gives us a bit of BTS footage, including some different shots of the stunt locations that drive home just how brave (or nuts) these athletes have got to be in order to do what they do.

What’s your favorite moment of this IRL 2-D running game? Do you miss Parker Lewis Can’t Lose as much as I do? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Image: Ilko ‘ill’ Iliev

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