Daredevil Broke World Record On Top Of A Volcano
Tanaboworn Sirikunakornkun, a 48-year-old university professor, real estate entrepreneur, and executive in the Thai Parliament who goes by the nickname Super Toom, only took up skydiving in 2024, but by March of this year he had completed 1,250 jumps and landed on top of the world's highest active volcano to set a Guinness World Record. Toom touched down on Ojos del Salado in Chile, which straddles the border with Argentina at an elevation of 5,442 metres above sea level, becoming the first person ever to complete a parachute landing at that specific point on the planet and breaking the previous altitude record for a skydive landing, which had stood since 2023. The thin air, freezing temperatures, and unpredictable winds at that altitude make a precision parachute landing extraordinarily dangerous, and Toom said afterward that the view looking down at the mineral-striped volcano made the whole mountain look like a rainbow, unlike anything he had ever seen. Guinness World Records adjudicators certified the record on the same day it was completed.
This was actually Toom's third major international skydiving achievement, following an earlier jump over Mount Everest during which he unfurled a 150-square-metre Thai national flag, and a separate high-altitude jump above Antarctica. His motivation, he has said in each case, is the same: to bring pride to Thailand and to demonstrate what is possible when someone refuses to place a ceiling on their ambitions. He told Guinness that the record was not really about the jump but about the message behind it, which is that every human being has special abilities within themselves and that everyone has the power to be super in their own way. He added, with characteristic directness: do not let anyone look down on or destroy your dreams, stay determined, stay dedicated, stay disciplined, and the universe will grant you strength. He is already planning his next attempt, which he says will take place in his home country of Thailand.
