Hanging in the balance: Daredevil acrobat's spectacular tight rope mountain walk... with no harness or safety net

One slip and he would plummet 10,000ft to the ground below.

Yet Freddy Nock too his most hair-raising stunt nonchalantly in his stride.

These stunning images show 45-year-old Freddy Nock completing his latest feat - walking more than 5,200 feet down a mountain cable car wire - without a safety net or a harness in the Swiss mountains.

Fearless: 45-year-old high wire artist Freddy Nock walks on the rope of the the Corvatsch cable car in Switzerland wearing no safety harness. His only aid was an outsized pole to help him balance

Balancing act: Swiss acrobat Freddy Nock moves carefully as he walks along a cable car line more than 10,000 feet above the ground - without a harness or safety net

Nock, a hire wire artist extraordinaire who works for a circus, undertook this latest stunt near the Swiss mountain resort of St Moritz.

Using only a balancing stick, he walked down the cable of a funicular on Mount Corvatsch - which is 9, 908 feet above sea level.

Long way down: Nock's incredible feat was his second attempt. Bad weather forced him to abandon a first try

He shuffled along the cable for some 5,249 feet, starting from the mountain station - at an altitude of 10,836 feet - to the middle station, which is 8,865 feet above sea level.

Nock, who starting learning acrobatic skills at the age of four, successfully completed the walk on his second attempt, after bad weather forced him to stop earlier in the day.

He previously performed similar stunts Germany, staging a climb over the slopes of the country's highest mountain, and walking 900-metres over Lake Zurich.

Above the clouds: Nock completed a similar high wire walk in 2009, when he staged a climb over the slopes of Germany's highest mountain for charity

Daredevil: Nock walked down over a distance of some more than 5,200 feet

Top bombing, Tom! Tom Daley and his Olympic partner pull off the world’s most difficult dive - an incredible 4.5 somersaults in less than 2 seconds

It is a feat of competition diving so difficult it was once thought impossible – but yesterday two British sportsmen pulled off the manoeuvre dubbed The Big Front.

Teenage star Tom Daley and his Olympic partner Pete Waterfield completed four-and-a-half somersaults in under two seconds – the blink of an eye it takes to hit the water from the 10-metre board. And what’s more, they did it synchronised in tandem.

Even to sports fans whose appreciation of diving is limited to comedian Peter Kay’s famous ‘top bombing’ advert, the precision timing and nerves of steel the somersaults demand are impressive.

Running jump: Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield need to get a good lift for their first somersault

Going: The pair are competing in the Mens 10m Synchro Final at the British Gas National Cup 2011

In just 1.93 seconds, 16-year-old Daley and Waterfield, 29, had to rotate their bodies at speeds of 60mph, while hurtling towards the water at 30mph.

It is therefore little wonder that no British diver had previously achieved the feat in competition. Now the pair believe the difficult dive will give them the edge at next year’s London Olympics. ‘It was scary,’ Daley admitted afterwards. ‘For some time I didn’t want to do it but to get on to the podium in London I knew I had to.

‘There were times in the past when I almost walked away from it. I haven’t been strong enough to incorporate the dives that can get the highest marks. But now I’m beginning to use them in competition.

‘The Big Front is technically and physically very hard. You need to get your timing right at the start because everything happens so fast. I feel very relieved to have done it.

In synch: The duo's split-second moves have to be in perfect tandem

The wow factor: Midway through their impressive dive

Nearly there: The last half-somersault as they prepare to enter the water

‘It’s gone better in training but that’s not in competition, it’s not in front of an audience and the nerves aren’t there.

‘The London Olympics have been my goal since 2005 when it won the Games bid. I was 11 and it seemed a big dream.’

Waterfield, Britain’s most experienced diver, admitted his younger partner has pushed him into new territory.

‘When you’re young like Tom, you’re fearless, you just want to get up there and hurl yourself off, but the older you get the more you realise the dangers,’ he said. ‘When a new dive comes along it wows everyone. It pushed me, but the main point is we pulled it off.’

And he admitted: ‘Just because I’m nearly twice his age doesn’t mean Tom can’t teach me things.’

After the historic dive at the British Gas National Cup, Daley’s proud father Tom said: ‘It’s a massive step by Tom. It’s only recently that he got over the psychological barrier you need to perform it.’

The pair took gold at yesterday’s event at the Southend Swimming and Diving Centre in Essex – and both will again attempt the Big Front in today’s individual dives.

But their sporting first is a significant step towards their Olympic goals, as neither reigning solo champion Matthew Mitcham, from Australia, nor the formidable Chinese synchronised diving team will attempt the Big Front at the 2012 Games. As Daley says: ‘We could be dangerous.’

Howzat for an innings? Schoolboy, 13, smashes cricket record with 498 runs

A 13-year-old has smashed the record for the highest individual score by an Indian schoolboy with a marathon innings of 498.

Armaan Jaffer, nephew of former India test opener Wasim Jaffer, racked up the runs playing for Rizvi Springfield High School against IES Raje Shivaji Vidyalaya in a three-day match in the under-14 Giles Shield tournament.

The right-hander struck 77 boundaries to surpass the previous best of 461 set by 15-year-old Ali Zorain Khan earlier this year.

Record-breaking Armaan Jaffer: Upset he missed out on 500 runs

'I am happy I got the record, but I am also upset that I missed the 500 by just two runs,' Armaan told The Telegraph newspaper after his two-day knock.

Runs in the family: Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer is Armaan's uncle

'My coach (Raju Pathak) told me to bat on as long as I wanted and not worry about the declaration. Both my dad and uncle always tell me to keep the ball down on the ground.'

The highest individual score in a first-class match was West Indian Brian Lara's 501 not out playing for English county Warwickshire against Durham in 1994.

The record score has catapulted the young cricketer to instant fame, with the Indian Express writing: 'News of his achievement has spread like wildfire,' while the Press Trust of India wrote: 'Mumbai has another child prodigy.'

Speaking after the match, Jaffer revealed his favourite player was Sachin Tendulkar, adding: 'I want to follow in his footsteps.'

His father Kalim revealed his young son had not initially wanted to start playing cricket. He told the Mumbai Mirror: 'The most remarkable thing about my son is that he can bat for hours. His concentration and stamina are astonishing. He began playing aged six but it was not his choice. In fact, he was quite reluctant to wield the willow. I had to persuade him quite a lot.'