You're never too old to achieve your dreams—or even break records. A 104-year-old woman named Dorothy Hoffner is such an example. She has just become the oldest person to skydive （跳伞）, and she had the time of her life doing it. After touching ground following her jump with a US instructor, she proudly said, "Age is just a number."
Hoffner took to the skies of Northern Illinois with the help of Skydive Chicago, making her way to the town of Ottawa for the jump. For all the excitement, this wasn't her first time jumping out of the plane. Hoffner's first skydiving took place a few years ago, when she was100. Although back then the instructor helped push them out together, this time she insisted on leading the jump from 13, 500 feet up in the air.
A video shared by Skydive Chicago shows Hoffner determinedly advancing towards the plane on her red walker （助行架）before being helped on board. Sitting among her fellow skydivers, she is all smiles as she waits for her turn. Once the door opens, the woman confidently jumps out of the plane head first.
Before Hoffner's jump, the record for the oldest person to skydive belonged to 103-year-old Linnea Ingegard Larsson from Sweden, who set it in May 2022. Now, Skydive Chicago is requesting Guinness World Records to certify Hoffner's jump as the new record.
As for Hoffner, she seems happy with having achieved this, describing the jump as an amazing experience. "It was wonderful up there. The whole thing was wonderful, and couldn't have been better," she says. Now that she has completed this achievement, she is now thinking of her next adventure. Since she is turning 105 in December, she is thinking of celebrating by riding a hot air balloon, saying, "I've never been in one of those."
