A French circus artist pulled off this incredible backwards somersault THROUGH A HOOP in Montreal.

Quentin Greco, a 26-year-old usually based in Valencia, Spain, is a specialist in jumping through hoops.

Greco was working with Montreal-based self-styled "death-defying" acrobatic art collective The 7 Fingers when he performed the feat.

The amazing video shows Greco jumping up into the air, tucking his legs in tightly and performing a backwards somersault as Nicolas Jelmoni, a performer with Cirque du Soleil, throws a hula hoop at him, mid-air.

The hoop clears Greco, who lands perfectly on his feet - to jubilant roars from onlookers.

"Today @njelmoni and me did something we are pretty proud of. It looks unreal but we knew that it was possible," Greco wrote online.

"We were working with a circus company and we had to mix two disciplines: hoop diving and hula hoop," he later told Newsflare.

"It became a challenge and we didn't want to stop before we made it. We finally succeeded after 20 tries."

We were working with a circus company and we had to mix 2 disciplines : hoop diving and hula hoop. So we had this idea to do that but we understood fast that it was more complicated than expected. But because we thought the trick could be cool and pretty fun, it became a challenge and we didn't want to stop before to make it. We finally succeeded after 20 tries