Jaan Roose has become the first person to cross the Strait of Italy on a slackline but stumbled just 90 yards from the end, crushing his hopes of a record.

The 32-year-old’s loose tightrope, which was less than 1in wide, was buffeted by strong winds as he made the 2.2mile crossing in just under three hours.

“I am super happy, I am Jantastic, even though I am a bit tired,” he said after his crossing despite missing out on a slacklining Guinness World Record after the fall.

Carrying water and a radio for emergencies in a small backpack, the Estonian, who is a Hollywood stuntman, set off from a tower in Villa San Giovanni on the Calabrian coast at 8.30am.

Footage showed him diminish to a dot as he wobbled across the Strait of Messina.

He was just four minutes away from his eventual finishing time when he lost his balance and flipped over.

Spectators on the beach could be heard gasping as Roose was left dangling between the slackline and the 820ft drop by a safety cord.

As he hoisted himself up, he sat astride the slackline and hit it with his hand twice, clearly frustrated.

Had he not fallen, Roose would have set a new slacklining world record by surpassing the current distance of 1.7 miles.

Roose, a three-times world slacklining champion, was greeted by enthusiastic applause and ships were heard sounding their horns as he arrived in Torre Faro in Sicily.

“I had some problems, but there was a lot of wind. I am really happy to have made history and to have become the first man to walk across the Strait,” he said.

His feat comes as the Italian government said it plans to build a suspension bridge across the stretch of water.