Social networks have literally exploded in recent hours after sharing a video that many have already defined as the “shot of the century“.
Spanish Olympic skateboarder Danny Leon performed a breathtaking skateboard jump on a specially built ramp, positioned in such a way that his silhouette perfectly coincided with the total phase of the solar eclipse on August 12, 2026.
The black disk of the Moon, enveloped by the radiant solar corona, created a surreal illusion of a real a portal in the sky through which the athlete seems to fly.
Millions in a matter of hours
The video, shared on the athlete's official profiles, has become an absolute global phenomenon. Within just the first 11 hours of its publication, The clip has garnered over 52 million views and more than 6 million likes on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Users around the world were amazed by the unprecedented timing and cinematic quality, highlighted by the slow-motion and powerful musical background.
Danny León himself, who represented Spain at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the “park“ discipline, described the achievement on social media as „the trick of my life“. In this way, the 31-year-old skateboarder completed his unique visual trilogy, after previously filming similar projects against the backdrop of the rising Sun and the Full Moon.
A production masterpiece without artificial intelligence
Initially, thousands of skeptics on the Internet accused the team of using generative artificial intelligence (AI) or computer montages. However, the truth turned out to be much more impressive - the footage is completely real. The project involved months of planning and complex astronomical calculations.
The team, which included photographer José Ángel Izquierdo (Jaicano) and filmmaker Gonzalo de Vega (Gochi Estrella), had to calculate the Sun's trajectory down to the millisecond. The ramp was installed in a rural area of northern Spain, and the cameras were positioned hundreds of meters away with powerful long-focus lenses to achieve the perfect scale between the skateboarder and the celestial phenomenon. Since the total phase of the eclipse in this part of the Iberian Peninsula lasted only about a minute, Leon had the opportunity to only one attempt – without a chance of error and without a second double.
The historic total solar eclipse of August 12 was the first of its kind visible from Spanish territory in over a century (the last such event in the region was recorded 114 years ago). Hundreds of thousands of tourists occupied the country, but undoubtedly the most creative and shared memory of the celestial spectacle remains in history thanks to extreme sports.