View of the Mont Saint-Michel tidal island, situated in France on the border between Normandy and Brittany. Photo: IC

French daredevil tightrope walker Nathan Paulin claimed a new world record on Tuesday as he completed a 2,200-meter-long trip to Mont Saint-Michel along a wire suspended between a crane and the famous abbey on the tidal island, his team said.

Paulin, 28, let himself down on the wire just meters before the finish "for safety reasons," his entourage said.

"He reached the stopping mark and so the [distance] record is beaten," his spokeswoman, Laura Zhang, told reporters.

Paulin started his walk at an elevation of around 100 meters in late afternoon, secured to a safety line.

It took him two hours to inch his way, barefoot, along the two-centimeter-wide slackline.