The Bright Side: Dutch canal-leaping pole vaulters keep centuries-old tradition alive

Summer is here, which also means it’s “fierljeppen” season in the Netherlands – a unique sport that is practised from the Dutch provinces of Friesland to Utrecht. Competitors sprint towards the water with a 12-metre pole and launch themselves in the air, trying to land on the other side of the canal without falling in. The earliest known competitions date back to around 1767.