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In the slipstream: professional cyclist Marius Prünte
Photo: Bernd Settnik / dpa
Marius Prünte from Hamm in North Rhine-Westphalia broke the German record in slipstream driving.
At the Lausitzring he reached 166.2 kilometers per hour, as announced by the record institute for Germany.
The athlete, born in 1990, exceeded the previous record from 1950 by almost 12 kilometers per hour.
The record attempt was made behind a special car.
At first Prünte dragged it until he stepped on the pedals of his bike with his own strength and let himself fall behind the car.
According to the record institute, the only condition was to get up to speed.
Distance or number of attempts did not matter.
The speed was measured by a speedometer on the bike, which worked with both GPS and sensors on the sports equipment itself.
For Prünte, however, the German record was just a stage victory.
Because the athlete has declared the world record his goal.
It is currently 296 kilometers per hour, and he wants to bring it to 300 in August next year.
kha / dpa