New Delhi: As the Moon eclipsed the Sun, Spanish Olympic skateboarder Danny León timed his jump perfectly, synchronising his skateboarding stunt with the eclipse.
On August 12, in a rare celestial alignment, the Moon passed directly between the Earth and the Sun, creating a solar eclipse visible across several parts of the globe.
Many people captured the rare moment. However, León’s jump drew particular attention for its aesthetics, timing, and precision.
The move of his life
The 31-year-old skateboarder uploaded the video on Instagram, which showed people cheering him on as he performed the stunt. He captioned the video, “My life hack: Eclipse mode”.
León, a two-time Olympian, further wrote, “There is no 2 without 3 ❤️🔥 First the sun, then the moon, and today we make history with this eclipse”.
The 31-year-old also described it as “the move of his life”.
He thanked his entire team and promised to share the backstory behind how the eclipse and the skateboarding stunt came together.
Instagram users congratulated León, with several calling the skateboard stunt “incredible”.
Also Read: 4 rare celestial events to coincide on 12 August. Solar eclipse, meteor shower & more
A rare celestial spectacle
During the eclipse, the Moon blocked a significant portion of the Sun from view in several regions.
Different parts of the world saw the eclipse to varying degrees. In the Netherlands, there was a partial eclipse, with around 88 to 90 percent of the Sun covered.
The eclipse was mainland Europe’s first total solar eclipse since 1999. It unfolded over several hours, allowing spectators to witness the rare celestial event. A narrow path passed across parts of Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, Spain and Portugal. The peak of the eclipse lasted for about 2 minutes and 18 seconds.
It was during this celestial event that León performed his carefully timed stunt.
India did not observe the eclipse because it occurred during nighttime hours across the country.
(Edited by Maryam Hassan)