DAREDEVIL motocross superstar Robbie Maddison has never been one to shy away from a challenge.
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The Kiama-born stunt rider has broken multiple Guinness World Records since his career took off on an international scale in 2005, including holding the record for longest motorcycle jump, which he set when he cleared 106.98 metres at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne in 2008.
His Evel Knievel-style stunts have earned him a reputation as one of the world's most daring action sports stars.
Jumping landmarks such as the Tower Bridge in London, Corinth Canal in Greece and the Arc de Triomphe in Las Vegas is all in a day's work for Maddison. Each death-defying stunt has only fuelled his ambition to push the limits.
Last year, after celebrating his 40th birthday, Maddison staged his most extreme stunt yet: dirt bike skydiving.
Maddison proved that not even the sky's the limit when he completed a quadruple backflip 5000 feet in the air after flying via helicopter up on his bike which was attached to a steel ramp that he designed for the stunt.
He dropped into the ramp on his bike and flew off into freefall, flipping through the sky before dropping the bike and launching his parachute.
It wasn't so much the fall that felt dangerous to Maddison, but the journey to the top.
"It was pretty wild riding on the helicopter up to the safe level because until you get to 1000 feet you can't jump, so if anything happens on the way up you are kind of doomed," Maddison said from his home in Southern California. "That was the scariest part of it.
"Once we had enough altitude to be able to pull our parachutes, it got safer and safer the higher we went funnily enough and then ultimately I just had to be really present.
"Things could have gone south and it could have been catastrophic but we had good people on board and good advice and we worked with a clear head and made it happen.
"That's what all my stunts are about: making the impossible possible."
Maddison is making the trek home to Australia for the first time in two years to perform in Freestyle Kings Live at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford on February 19 for one exclusive show with champion riders Rob Adelberg, Pat Bowden, Jackson Strong and Taka Higashino alongside Lance Russell, Dayne Kinnaird and Michael 'Chucky' Norris.
Also appearing is Maddison's 11-year-old son, Kruz.
"My son is going to be riding with me which is going to be the first time and he's really excited," Maddison says.
The upcoming show is a big deal for Maddison who has only recently returned to stunt riding after a series of injuries forced him to take a break and allow himself time to heal and recover.
The married father-of-two has encountered five near-death experiences during his career and undergone back surgery, turning to yoga and core strength workouts to get his body in working order after "battering" it for so many years.
"When COVID first hit there was a bit of sitting around and I wasn't as active as I'm used to being, so I started getting aches and pains in spots that I'd never had before and it honestly took a long time for me to get rid of those different pains," Maddison says.
"Just with the abuse on my body over the years, my body tightened up and I was at the point where I was in chronic pain.
"My body has taken some beatings over the years so just being able to ride right now is a huge thing for me."
As well as completing his skydiving stunt last year, Maddison shifted his focus to stunts on water, developing a special motorbike to set another world record to become the first person to ride across the water on two wheels from Europe to Asia and back, and surfing big waves on a motorbike in Teahupo'o in Tahiti.
"When I was a kid I always dreamt that I could fly, so I have always dreamt big, you know, I never think anything is impossible," Maddison says.
He plans to launch a clothing company this year and recently worked as a stuntman on a film starring Jason Statham.
And he already had an idea for his next stunt.
"I still set goals and have goals and crazy dreams that I aspire to," Maddison says.
"I think there is always a limit with stunts, but I think that those limits haven't been reached.
"I want to be at the forefront of that. I have always had this big goal of mine to fly a motorcycle and I am pretty committed to making it happen."
