What's the difference between freerunning and parkour?

Nico Wlcek: It's gone beyond that in many ways. The military still has an interest in it. There are a lot of workshops given to special forces or to the police all around the world. But parkour has become a sport, a culture and an art form. The name parkour has caught up in our society so much that people think parkour is freerunning and vice versa.

Five years ago they were, but now everything has melded together again. People say parkour to all of it. Snowboarding doesn't get two names whether you are riding down a mountain or doing tricks in a snowboard park, it's still the same sport. I personally would love to see parkour and freerunning meld together again. I think it should have never been split up. What name is going to be? I don't know, but it's important that we as a culture are represented under one name.

Spiritual is a hard word for me. When I look at parkour athletes I see spirituality in a different sense. The highest level of them, who have thousands and thousands of hours of training, are doing things on roofs where they put themselves in life or death situations and that's very spiritual for me. Not because they're risking their life, but because they know exactly what they're capable of, but then again so do freerunners. I think the difference lies more in the style of movement. Tricks, movement and creativity are a very big part of freerunning compared to parkour, where the focus is more on efficiency, speed and technique. Freerunning is a free-flowing art because it's more about the connection in-between things. It's not only about the distance or time, but how you look and feel in the air. That's a big difference.