California athlete fails to jump car, somehow still lands on feet in ridiculous stunt attempt
If someone fails to achieve what they openly set out to accomplish, yet land an even more impressive result in the end, was their effort successful? That’s precisely the dilemma facing one aspiring and very athletic teenage stunt performer from California.
As noted by the Australian network Mi9, and brought to Prep Rally's attention by Gawker, a California high school student named Daniel Jensen decided that the best way to prove he had a future in movie stuntwork was to hire a friend to drive a car directly at him, and for him to then leap over that oncoming car with a single jump.
The idea was simple enough, and borrowed a concept mythologized by a popular Kobe Bryant Nike commercial which made it appear he was jumping over a speeding sports car on the roof of a building.
Of course, Kobe’s stunt wasn’t real; it was photoshopped. As it turns out, Jensen might have felt better about his lot in life if his stunt had been photoshopped instead of performed outright as well. Instead, the Tarzana (Calif.) High superstar was met with a rude awakening when he instructed his accomplice in a speeding car to punch the gas until she reached 40 miles-per-hour.
Jensen timed his jump a touch late, which turned a potentially fantastic stunt into a sheer matter of survival. Yet, instead of landing flat on his face, Jensen somehow completed a flip and landed squarely on his feet, marking what is easily one of the more impressively athletic stunts to be pulled off in recent times … at any level.
There was no word whether Jensen planned to complete another similar jump in the near future. If and when he does, at least this time he’ll have a better idea of what to keep an eye out for in the moment of pandemonium as the car willingly bears down.
Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
