Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

This footage shows a French daredevil free climbing a 400-foot-high skyscraper in Paris with no safety gear.

The video shows professional climber Alexis Landot, 22, scaling one of the 122-metre-high (400-foot-high) Mercuriales towers in the French capital Paris.

Landot shared the footage on Instagram on Tuesday, 23rd August, where it has since notched up nearly 2.5 million likes. He told Newsflash in an exclusive interview that he regularly free climbs skyscrapers all over the world.

In the video, Landot can be heard saying in English, as he scales the building, that he is “free climbing the tower” and that he can “barely fit my hands”. He can then be seen scaling the nearly flat surface of the tower, exhaling with effort as he goes.

Landot told Newsflash: “I’m from Paris, and I was also born in Paris. I’ve been climbing skyscrapers free-solo, with no safety, no rope, no protection, for over two years now, in Europe, and soon everywhere in the world.

“I recorded this video on Saturday, 20th of August, and yeah this is me climbing [one of the] Mercuriales tower[s] in Paris, free solo, no safety, no protection.”

He added: “When I climb I have no particular feelings, because it’s only pure focus. You know, I have to focus on the movements I have to make, and also on the feelings, but not the feelings in my head, I mean the feelings in my feet, the feelings in my hand, like always being alert.”

Landot said that he is not an adrenaline junkie, adding that he climbs because of the feeling of focus that he experiences. He said: “I don’t climb for adrenaline, because adrenaline doesn’t last like an hour. I climb for this feeling of pure focus that you get, you don’t have a choice but to focus, and this is what I love about this sport.”

Despite being in such a risky profession, Landot said that he has never injured himself while free climbing solo. He said: “I have never injured myself. Well, I mean, I have injured myself before, but not climbing free solo. Because when you climb free solo, if you fall, you die, so yeah, I’ve never died, I’m here.”

The professional climber, who made the French newspapers over the stunt, added: “The feeling I get when I climb is like focus and serenity, at the same time, cause I know that my life is in between my hands, and not in between anyone else’s hands, or I don’t put my life, you know, in the hand of like a rope, or somebody else.

“It’s just my hands, and I feel like, serenity and focus when I do this. When I actually reach the top, I feel pure joy also, because all the feelings that I did not had when I was climbing because I was so focused, I get them when I’m up there, and I’m safe, and when I get to the point where I know I am going to make it, and I feel like I’m safe, I feel a lot of emotions, a lot of joy.”