The World’s Most Dangerous Sports

July 6, 2024

There are several of these types of lists out there, but this one from Lines.com captures the essence of the message very well.

Lines.com recently designated these sports as being the most likely to injure or worse. We will reveal their findings here, counting up, from the 15th most dangerous to the number 1, and riskiest sport, in the world.

15. STREET LUGING: Street luging consists of lying on your back on a wheeled board, also called a sled, and riding down a steep course. Street luging has been described as sledding at 90 miles per hour, and the world record for speed for an unassisted street luge is 101 miles per hour set by Damian Andrew in 2017.

An injured football player

14. AMERICAN FOOTBALL: In terms of mainstream team sports, it doesn’t get much more dangerous than a contact sport like American football. Concussions are very commonplace, but there have also been many injuries related to the neck and spine that have left some players paralyzed. (Only 14th on the list? Just ahead – even more danger!)

13. RUGBY: Perhaps the only team sport more dangerous than American football is rugby, which is somewhat similar to football, though one of the major differences is that while American football players have a ton of padding to protect themselves, rugby players play in nothing but their uniform. (Check out the National Rugby team of New Zealand HERE.)https://www.allblacks.com/

12. WHITE WATER RAFTING: When you talk about white water, you’re talking about water that’s moving very fast through rough terrain, which means your raft could very well smash into some jagged rocks or even be punctured by them. Drowning in the current or banging your head against one of the many deadly obstacles in the rapids are a couple of the main reasons why this is one of the most dangerous sports.

11. BULL RIDING: The whole sport is designed around trying to stay on an aggressive and angry bull for as long as possible, so the danger is really baked right in here.

10. MMA: The nasty, violent cousin of boxing, mixed martial arts combine the danger of a wide range of different martial arts disciplines to create arguably the most brutal combat sport and therefore one of the most dangerous sports in the world. (And to think, we are only at the 10th most dangerous sport!)

9. BIG WAVE SURFING: If you fall into a gargantuan wave while trying to surf it, there are a lot more perils than just drowning, which is a very real possibility. You could also be pulled into riptide or an undertow and out to sea, you could smash yourself on underwater rocks, or your board could betray you and smash into your head in the commotion.

8. NASCAR AND AUTO RACING: Massive impact, huge g-force, and fiery explosions are all somewhat commonplace when watching auto racing in action.

 7. MOTOCROSS/MOTORBIKE RACING: Motorbike racing sees these guys going 120 miles per hour with nothing but a leather suit on to protect them should there be a crash.

 6. BOXING: Two athletes enter the ring, and they’re wailing on each other with their fists for 12 three-minute rounds, unless one fighter is so badly beat up that they can’t continue. 

5. FREE SOLO ROCK CLIMBING: Literally one wrong move could easily mean death or at least a life-altering injury. (My fingers hurt just thinking about this.)

4. FREE SKYDIVING: Any issues you might have up there are pretty much deadly, whether it’s faulty equipment or user error that does you in. (THIS video makes it look like fun!)

3. WING SUIT FLYING: Flying as close as you can to a mountainside or cliff can sometimes have deadly consequences, however, as evidenced by the 170+ wingsuit jumping deaths recorded since 2002. (Want to meet some rocks and trees up close and personal? Check THIS  video out.) Courtesy of GoPro and Grahm Dickinson.

Atop the mountain

2. HIGH ALTITUDE MOUNTAINEERING: There’s all sorts of things out to get you on a trek up the Himalayas including avalanches, crevasses, falls, and frostbite. But it’s really the lack of oxygen at altitudes that humans really aren’t supposed to be at that makes this arguably the most dangerous sport known to mankind. (I’m out of breath after a single flight of stairs. I’ll pass.)

 And #1: BASE JUMPING: According to the BASE Fatality List, there have been nearly 450 deaths since 1981, when they first began keeping track. For a sport with such a small number of participants, that number is pretty scary. And it’s not like they’re figuring out how to make it safer either, as the deadliest BASE-jumping year on record was pretty recently, when 37 people died in 2016.

Thank you to lines.com

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