Rudy Omankowski, Jr.

Rudy Omankowski, Jr. is a France-based highwire walker born in 1937 in Czechoslovakia into a long line of circus and highwire performers.
Among his most notable performances is his 1.25km skywalk between two mountain tops in Gérardmer, les Vosges, France. It is the longest skywalk known to have been achieved.

The following story has not been verified. It has been passed down many times through oral tradition and therefore it likely contains many flaws, inaccuracies, embellishments and ommissions. Its inclusion is made for reference only:
As World War II picked up steam and Germany began its occupation of Czechoslovakia, the teenage Omankowsky was drafted into the German Army. Just a few days later, however, while marching through the eastern European countryides, the company came into a town that was also currently being visited by a travelling circus. He was almost immediately recognised by one of the people with the show and plans were made to hide him from the army and smuggle him out of the country. It was during his long escape from the German Army that he met a young trapezist by the name of Colette Triska of the famous Triska Family Circus. Eventually the two ended up in France, marrying and began performing again.

Omankowsky is now a highwire teacher at the Centre Nationale des Artes du Cirque in Châlons-en-Champagne, France, and has mentored many prominent highwire and circus artists, including Didier Pasquette, Jade Kindar-Martin and Molly Saudek.