A 104-year-old Chicago woman who successfully skydived during a tandem jump could become the oldest person to ever skydive if the Guinness World Records verifies the feat.
Dorothy Hoffner did the planned plummet on Sunday, leaving her walker behind before getting on a plane at the Skydive Chicago Airport in Ottawa, Illinois, some 85 miles southwest of Chicago, media reports said.
“Age is just a number,” Ms. Hoffner told the cheering crowd on the ground after she landed from her 13,500-foot descent, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Possibly clinching the age record for skydiving, however, makes her feel “like I’m old,” Ms. Hoffner told the Tribune.
The standing record was set in 2022 by a 103-year-old woman from Sweden. While Guinness records the record as being the oldest woman to complete a tandem parachute jump, the standing record for women, at 103 years and 259 days, outstrips the male record of 103 years and 161 days.
Skydive Chicago is working to have Ms. Hoffner’s jump certified as a record, the company told WLS-TV.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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