Dutch canal-leaping pole vaulters aim for the sky

Smiling and relaxed, Dutch farmer Jacob de Groot grips a pole and walks to the water's edge -- chasing a thrill he first felt aged 10, vaulting across a canal.

Every summer, Dutch provinces from Friesland to Utrecht leap into "fierljeppen" season -- a uniquely Dutch sport combining pole-vaulting, long jump and, when misjudged, unplanned swimming.

"This is really a typically Dutch sport," De Groot, holder since 2017 of the long jump record at 22.21 metres (73 feet), told AFP.

"I think because in the rest of the world there are not so many canals and also maybe the people are not so crazy."

The sport involves competitors sprinting toward the water and launching themselves into the air on a 12-metre carbon pole -- roughly the height of a four-storey building.

But the vault is only half the challenge. Mid-flight, competitors must climb the pole, tilt it forward, and aim to land as far as possible on a sandbank.

If the timing is off, they plunge straight into the water.

"It's just extreme and crazy and addictive," said the farmer, who trains year-round and has introduced his children to the sport.

The sport traces its roots to farm life, when Dutch farmers used wooden poles to cross their fields, vaulting over their canals and ditches.

Over time, it evolved from a daily task into a folk challenge, and then into a formal sport. The earliest known competitions date back to around 1767.

Local legend has it that in 1575, during the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, one man hid a secret message in his pole before slipping through enemy lines.

The shift to a sport reportedly happened in a bar, according to Eelco Tigchelaar, spokesperson for the local fierljeppen association in Lopik, central Netherlands, where an annual Friesland–Holland grudge match is held.

"Farmers' sons got together, drank a little and said, 'I can jump a canal of two meters'. 'Oh, I can jump three meters'." 

"And the barman said, 'oh, maybe there's money to be made. I'll make a canal of five meters and they'll have to jump'."

Today, fierljeppen -- "long jump" in Frisian -- is a recognised sport with its own regulations, practised mostly by men, though a small number of women have also made their mark.

"With a lot of women, once they go to study or they have kids, they quit," said Tessa Kramer, who is part of the Holland team.

"I'm one of the oldest now... But that's good, you're setting an example as well," said the 31-year-old software developer.

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