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104-Year-Old Skydiver Cracks Jokes After Record-Breaking Jump

NO SLOWIN’ DOWN

When asked how it felt to set a record as the world’s older skydiver, Dorothy Hoffer quipped: “I feel old.”

Dorothy Hoffner, still wearing a skydivers’ harness, smiles as she speaks about her historic jump.
Chicago Tribune via X

Dorothy Hoffner, 104, was all smiles Sunday after she unofficially became the world’s oldest skydiver, cracking jokes as she discussed her historic feat. “It was wonderful up there,” she said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “The whole thing was delightful.” Hoffner, a lifelong Chicagoan, made her record-breaking jump in Ottawa, Illinois, to much fanfare. Videos showed she used a walker to get around before and after the jump, but she was sharp when answering questions about what’s next for her. “One never knows,” she said. Rut Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson, of Sweden, previously held the tandem skydiving age record when she jumped at 103 in 2022. While Hoffner joked that the record makes her “feel old,” she suggested she’ll never let her age limit her: “Age is only a number, you know.”