French professional mountain biker Aurelien Fontenoy reacts after climbing the 768 steps, 33 flors and 140 metres high Trinity Tower in the financial and business district of La Defense near Paris, France, January 17, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
PARIS (Reuters) -Cyclist and social media sensation Aurelien Fontenoy became the fastest athlete ever to climb to the second floor of France's Eiffel Tower on an all-terrain bike, the monument's operator said on Friday.
Fontenoy on Thursday climbed 686 steps of the monument to reach the second-floor platform, the last accessible by stairs, in 12 minutes and 30 seconds, the Societe d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel said in a statement.
He broke the previous record by almost seven minutes. In order to claim the title, Fontenoy's feet were not allowed to touch the ground.
"I did not expect to take this little time," Fontenoy said after the feat. The Eiffel Tower "is really a symbol, it is really the monument that I wanted to climb," he added.
As part of his project "The Climb", Fontenoy cycled in 2021 to the top of the 140-metre high Trinity Tower, also in Paris, and this year he climbed Tallinn's TV Tower in Estonia.
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi and Manuel Ausloos, editing by Ken Ferris)
