- Norway's extreme sport, "death diving," is having a moment on TikTok.
- Dives can look like belly flops from unbelievable heights, but there is a method to the madness.
In Asbjorg Nesje's January 24 TikTok, the 20-something can be seen standing on top of an impossibly high diving board in the sunshine. She then launches herself off and torpedoes into the water.
Nesje, a Norwegian athlete who's become a foremost death diver, shared in a comment exactly how high she fell: 24.8 meters, or a little over 81 feet. (For reference, the highest diving board at the Olympics is 10 meters, or roughly 33 feet).
The viral videos have introduced many to the niche extreme sport of "døds," as it's known colloquially in Norway. Døds also translates to "death" in Norwegian. While it has been classified as a competitive sport, many people around the world are first hearing about it on social media — and are absolutely astounded, if not frightened, by the feat.
@asbjorg_n Hjernevreng #15m #døds #deathdiving #cliffjumping ♬ original sound - Asbjørg Nesje
In one of Nesje's most viral videos that's been viewed more than 37 million times, she's seen starting at a jog before she launches herself out into the open air, dropping in a tight spin — twirling horizontally like a pencil dropped from a skyscraper. About five seconds later, Nesje makes contact with the water with a loud, prodigious splash, as onlookers shout in disbelief and excitement.
The next day, on January 25, Nesje shared an alternative angle of the dive as a cheeky response to a comment asking if she made it out of the dive alive. This time, the footage appeared to be shot from a boat idling below. As bystanders shouted, Nesje jumps and falls like an unconscious skydiver. It's the kind of jump that takes the breath out of you just by watching. Commenters can't decide if what they watched is awe-spiring or alarming.
"This woman is awesome," one commenter wrote. "THIS WOMAN IS VERY LUCKY!!!!" another commenter followed.
@asbjorg_n This one deserves it’s own video. #døds #deathdiving ♬ original sound - Asbjørg Nesje
A common TikTok disclaimer appears on most of Nesje's videos. "The actions in this video are performed by professionals or supervised by professionals. Do not attempt," they read. And it's apt: Nesje is a professional and seasoned death diver. Nesje has won both the 2021 and 2022 Døds championships, and, according to commentators for the 2021 championship competition, she apparently began death diving in 2020.
According to the Døds Federation, death dives are judged for speed, length, and power of the run-up and, depending on if it's a freestyle or a classic death dive, a combination of flow, personal style, control, creativity, and difficulty. Divers can land in one of three formations: shrimp (hands and feet hit simultaneously), no-hands (knees and head hit simultaneously), or bullet (knees and elbows simultaneously). This way, before a diver enters the water, their hands or knees should break the surface tension.
As a commentator during the "Døds World Championship," put it, in a classic jump, the diver should give the illusion of being in the air for as long as possible — "like time stands still."
The "døds" hashtag has 236.5 million views on the app. And Nesje isn't the only diver sharing their unique skills. Athlete and content creator @ryanbean, for instance, shared a daring montage in November 2022, and a 2021 video of kids competing in the sport racked up 19 million views. But none seem to have gained the momentum of Nesje's late January posts.
To the uninitiated, it seems like a truly nihilistic game of chicken.
Comments on Nesje's content range from expressions of fear and concern to fanfare and fascination. Some are begging to be told the point of all this. Others are disgruntled with Nesje's intermittent usage of the term "belly flop" to describe her pancake-like drops from bridges ("Doesn't count if your belly isn't the first thing to touch water," one user felt the need to point out.)
On a compilation of Nesje's jumps that range from one to 24.8 meters, one user was even disappointed that they weren't able to watch a more painful landing: "And not one single bellyflop was done ," they wrote.
Nesje did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.