If you are a fan of adventure and adrenaline, you probably already know the career of the Catalan Álvaro Bultó: extreme sports athlete who dedicated his life to living strong emotions through disciplines like freefall, skydiving, rally, and motocross.
Additionally, he was a television presenter of the Spanish program Así se hace on the Discovery Max channel and participated in 2007 in the celebrity dance show Mira quien baila and shortly before his death in the aquatic challenge show Splash in 2013. If you want to learn more about some details of the professional and personal career of a great in skydiving, motocross, and freefall, keep reading to discover it!
1. Where and when was Álvaro Bultó born?
The intrepid skydiver was born on June 11, 1962, in the city of Barcelona, Spain, into a wealthy family formed by his father, Paco Bultó, businessman and founder of the Montesa motorcycle factory, his mother, the aristocrat Inés Sagnier Muñoz, and nine siblings.
Since he was a child, he was attracted to the world of motorcycles due to the close relationship his family had with this discipline, especially his father, and he lived very closely everything related to this sport. Later on, he also became interested in extreme sports like freefall and skydiving without ever leaving aside his great passion for motorcycles.
2. Did you know he broke the world record in freefall?
Skydiving was one of his great passions since he discovered it in his adolescence, and throughout his life he accumulated more than 3000 jumps in various disciplines of the sport. In 2009, and with the help of the Proyecto Alas that he founded with his colleagues Santi Corella and Toni López, he broke the world record for human freefall flight at Las Canteras beach in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 2009 with a time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds, surpassing his own record set four years earlier in the Strait of Gibraltar.
3. When did he fly over Antarctica?
Álvaro Bultó was one of the first Spaniards to fly over Antarctica again with his companions Santi Corella and Toni López in 2007, with whom he experienced one of the most risky experiences of his life. For this, they used wingsuits that reduced speed and the necessary equipment to combat the 60 degrees below zero they faced. Without a doubt, a whole adventure that Bultó never feared at any moment.
4. Did Álvaro Bultó participate in the Rally Dakar?
Besides skydiving and free fall, the Catalan has acknowledged on several occasions his passion for motorcycles, a discipline he has always prioritized in his life. Likewise, despite having practiced sports like surfing, free fall, or sailing, the world of motorcycles was his great passion since he began riding the roads of his native estate in Barcelona at just 11 years old. For this reason, Bultó participated in several competitions related to this sport, among which the Rally Dakar stands out, in which he participated twice, reaching the finish line only once. He also took part in the Camel Trophy and several motocross championships throughout his life.
5. What is the relationship between Sete Gibernau and Álvaro Bultó?
Sete Gibernau, two-time Moto GP world runner-up, is Álvaro Bultó's nephew. The passion for motorcycles is innate in the family. Former pilot Gibernau practiced trial and motocross before starting in speed racing without knowing that this would be his true passion. In 1996 he debuted in his first world motorcycle competition riding a Honda 250cc and stood on the podium more than 30 times, and besides being a two-time Moto GP runner-up, he also has more than 8 major victories in this discipline.
6. Did you know he climbed the highest wall of the Arctic?
It was in 2012 when the Catalan decided to pack his bags and embark on another adventure. In this case, he traveled to Greenland to climb the highest wall of the Arctic with the help of his wingsuit. Bultó stated on several occasions that risky experiences made him feel alive, and that by living them he felt he was taking care of his mind and his optimism grew. Age was never an obstacle for the Catalan to enjoy great adventures like this.
7. He was the director of a jet ski tournament.
The former pilot also dedicated much of his summers to directing jet ski tournaments on the Costa Dorada and the Costa Blanca, where on several occasions he was seen practicing this discipline accompanied by other celebrities like Alejandra Prat. The fan of motorcycles on solid ground showed during the 2000s that he was also a fan of jet skis. In this way, he participated in the Vuelta a España on a jet ski.
8. Swimming with great white sharks?
If Álvaro Bultó showed anything, it was that he was an adventurous man who was not afraid of risky experiences but rather got adrenaline from them. For this reason, on several occasions, he wanted to live the challenge of swimming with the ocean's top predator: the great white shark. He himself announced via Facebook that he would swim with this species in the waters of Gansbaai, a small fishing village located in Cape Town, South Africa, famous for its dense population of great white sharks.
9. Did you know he participated in a dog sled race?
In 2012, the Catalan tried a new discipline called mushing, which involves covering terrain (usually snowy) using a sled pulled by husky dogs or similar. Álvaro Bultó fully immersed himself in this sport, participating in La Pirena; a competition that consists of crossing the Pyrenees by sled through Navarra, Aragón, Catalonia, Andorra, and France in a total of 15 days. The former pilot posted images of his adventure on his Facebook.
10. What was the cause of his death?
The athlete died in 2013 due to an accident he suffered while practicing wingfly in Lauterbrunnen, Swiss Alps. This BASE jumping discipline consists of jumping with wings and gliding at speeds between 60 and 200 km/h. The Catalan was only 51 years old when he lost his life practicing a sport he loved but is considered one of the most dangerous in the world. Although the exact cause of his death is unknown, some of his adventure companions confirmed that Bultó's parachute opened later than expected, causing a heavy impact against a hard surface.
Álvaro Bultó's professional and personal life was full of sport, adrenaline, and risk. The Catalan stated in several interviews before his death that living experiences filled him with positivity and cared for his mind, so we can deduce that the former pilot was happy until the end of his days. Besides living each day as if it were the last, he also accumulated successes and victories thanks to the sport he explored since childhood: motorcycling. An example of overcoming and personal growth that makes us all remember him as a great sports legend.
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