Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner has died in a paragliding crash in Italy.
The Austrian sportsman, 56, reportedly lost control of his aircraft on Thursday at around 4pm in Porto Sant’Elpidio, Marche.
Italian local media has reported the dare-devil crashed into the pool of a hotel complex after feeling unwell before taking off.
A woman was also left injured in the incident after being struck by Baumgartner as he plummeted to the ground.
Her condition is not serious, according to initial reports.
Preliminary information suggests Baumgartner was already dead when the collision occurred.
Shortly before his death, the sports star posted a video on his social media. It showed him paragliding in circles over a field, completely unaware of the tragedy that was about to strike.
The sports sensation was internationally known for his spectacular jumps.
He became particularly famous in 2012 with a jump from the stratosphere in which he set three world records.
Felix Baumgartner has died in a paragliding crash in Italy
Shortly before his death, the sports star posted a video on his social media
It showed him paragliding in circles over a field, completely unaware of the tragedy that was about to strike
Baumgartner dropped jaws after jumped from the edge of space, armed only with a pressure suit, a parachute, and nerves of steel.
He free fell to Earth for more than four minutes, during which time he reached dizzying speeds of 843.6mph and broke the sound barrier, before opening his parachute and safely gliding down to land in New Mexico.
Baumgartner was an accomplished skydiver who had completed thousands of jumps before setting his sights on space.
His inspiration was Captain Joe Kittinger, a retired fighter pilot who had jumped to Earth from 102,800ft back in 1960.
Speaking to MailOnline in 2022, he said: ‘As a skydiver, you always want to push the envelope.
‘What Joe accomplished in the 1960s after only 33 skydives – this is what I call a true pioneer.
‘And I had a couple thousand skydives under my belt.
‘You’re always thinking, what more can I do? Go faster? Go higher? It’s always floating out there.’
Baumgartner had previously worked with Red Bull on base jumps, and reached out to them once again with the idea of jumping from space.
In 2012, daredevil Felix Baumgartner jumped from the edge of space, armed only with a pressure suit, a parachute, and nerves of steel
On 14 October 2012, millions of people around the world eagerly tuned in to watch Mr the record-breaking jump from the edge of space, which played out live across 77 TV channels and online
‘Because of all the trust I’d built with Red Bull with base jumps, we took on that challenge trying to find the right people,’ he explained.
This included his inspiration, Joe Kittinger, who agreed to help him.
‘Joe made it very clear the first time I met him – I’m interested but I’m only going to support you if you take it seriously. You can’t go from zero to hero. We have to do it the right way.’
The two years that followed involved rigorous planning and testing, which wasn’t always smooth sailing.
‘A lot of people didn’t believe in us, so it took us a while to convince people to come on board,’ Baumgartner said. ‘We had to be really patient.’
The plan was simple – Baumgartner would board the Red Bull Stratos capsule wearing a pressurised suit, before soaring up to the edge of space, guided by a helium balloon.
Once he reached an altitude of 114,829ft (35,000 metres), Baumgartner would open the capsule door and jump, free falling for four minutes before opening his parachute and gliding to the ground.
While the entire mission would take less than three hours, Baumgartner knew there were several things that could go wrong.
‘It’s a very hostile environment up there. If the suit fails, your blood would start to boil and you’d die in 15 seconds,’ he said.
‘The parachute could malfunction or you could flat spin, which pushes all your blood into your skull. If that happens, at a certain RPM your blood only has one way out – through your eyeballs.’
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
