Mountain bike rider who dreams of going pro breaks vertical drop record

Dropping nearly four metres on a mountain bike is enough to make most people slam on the brakes, but for Mario Neurauter (Austria), it was an opportunity to take his riding to new heights.

With dreams of riding as a professional mountain bike athlete, Mario has always lived with the idea of pushing himself higher, further and faster. Striving to be the best at what he does from a young age has earned him a Guinness World Records title for the highest vertical drop on a bicycle on to a target (male).

Mario has been riding for seven years, and on 13 September 2025, the 20-year-old dropped 3.80 metres (12.46 ft) to achieve the record - that’s almost as high as a double-decker bus!

He told us: “I had never landed on a box like this before. In general though, I started small and worked my way up to bigger and bigger drops over the years.”

Although committing to the drop is one large part of this attempt, Mario also had to ensure he hit the landing box accurately. He said: “I wasn’t scared, but I knew that hitting the box would be tricky. I hadn't trained for it specifically, so I didn't know how many attempts it would take. In the end, it worked out pretty well.”

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Mario’s record attempt took place during the Bike Republic Sölden Festival, which was combined with the Swatch Nines in Austria, bringing together riders and fans from across the mountain biking world. He explained: “I thought this festival would be the perfect event for something like this. The whole bike scene comes together there, so you have the best possible setting for a record attempt.”

During this stunt-filled weekend, Mario also attempted the highest vertical drop on a bicycle and highest 360 vertical drop on a bicycle on to a target. He’s now waiting to see if these attempts were successful, meaning this record-breaking weekend could potentially become even bigger.

With many stunts completed during his riding career, Mario has thankfully never been injured doing drops like this one, but he has broken his collarbone twice while riding.

For Mario, this record is another step closer to taking mountain biking as far as he can to follow his dream of becoming a professional athlete.

Although he has no new attempts currently lined up, Mario is keen to keep progressing and see what challenges he can ride next.