At dawn on Saturday, Duque dove from the 27-metre high Västerbron bridge in the heart of the city, performed his signature double somersaults with a half twist and made a perfect landing. He then swam to a waiting RIB and left for the airport while early risers gaped in disbelief.

It was the culmination of a visit to Sweden two years ago when Duque was scouting locations for the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series.

"The Västerbron bridge was our first hand choice for an event. It’s perfect. The inner-city location, the height, the water depth, the easy access for spectators both on land and in the water makes it ideal," he said.

"Unfortunately we were unable to explain the concept of Cliff Diving well enough to the City, and were unable to get the necessary permits in time.”

But the visit whetted his appetite for diving off the bridge and so the nine-times world champion took advantage of the break between the Red Bull Cliff Diving competitions in Rotterdam and Dubrovnik to fulfil one of his dream-dives.

"The dive was one of the dives on my wishlist for 2009 and can perhaps show what the sport is about, and how a trained professional can make high jumps like this in a controlled way. I truly hope we can be allowed to arrange a competition here one day,” said Duque.