logo
Felix Baumgartner's cause of death revealed after famed daredevil's paraglider crashed down into Italian resort - as report claims freak mid-air accident triggered plunge

Felix Baumgartner's cause of death revealed after famed daredevil's paraglider crashed down into Italian resort - as report claims freak mid-air accident triggered plunge

Daily Mail​3 days ago
Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner's cause of death, following his fatal crash during a paraglider ride at an Italian resort.
Baumgartner, 56, tragically died at around 4pm local time on Thursday in Italy 's Porto Sant'Elpidio in the province of Fermo when a flight in a motorised paraglider took a fatal turn.
The Red Bull-sponsored athlete, who was holidaying with partner Michela Radulescu, flew over Italy's Adriatic coast and crashed into a swimming pool at the Le Mimose holiday camp.
Since his untimely death, Attorney General Raffaele Iannella, who is leading the investigation into Baumgartner's death, told BID that autopsies are currently being run on his body, located at the forensic medicine department of nearby Fermo hospital.
'What we know for sure so far: Baumgartner died on impact, his spine fractured in the lower part of his back, and his spinal cord was damaged', he said.
Local media has also reported that a freak mid-air accident may have triggered the drop.
Investigators reportedly believe that a camera attacked to Baumgartner's paraglider may have fallen into the propellor, causing it to break.
They are reportedly looking to gain access to the camera to get a full timeline of the crash.
For now, Italy's public prosecutor's office said it could take 40-5 days for any investigations to be completed.
It comes after partner Michela Radulesc shared chilling footage of her long-term partner just minutes before the tragic death, tragically adding that she filmed the video 'not knowing that this would be his last flight of his extraordinary life'.
Taking to X to post the somber video, Ms Radulescu said: 'For over 12 years I was there for every take off and landing, from skydiving, paragliding, helicopter flights, paramotor to aerobatic shows.
'And when I couldn't be there for some heli flights, we had the WLC code - 'the Wifey Landing Call'. Never missed one. Except …this one.'
Describing her partner as 'truly special', she added that he was 'going home now, up there, where he was the happiest ever'.
The 55-year-old also thanked the public for both their support and also for helping to 'keep his unique legacy high up'.
Baumgartner gained international recognition in 2012 after he leapt from the edge of space in the world's most extreme skydive.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Tour de France: Onley lays down a marker as Pogacar keeps grip on yellow
Tour de France: Onley lays down a marker as Pogacar keeps grip on yellow

The Guardian

timean hour ago

  • The Guardian

Tour de France: Onley lays down a marker as Pogacar keeps grip on yellow

Oscar Onley edged closer to a surprise podium finish in the 2025 Tour de France, as Tadej Pogacar moved further ahead of second-placed Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour's toughest mountain stage to Col de la Loze. Urged on by the band of OnleyFans at the roadside, the 22-year-old from Kelso produced the ride of his young life in the Tour's queen stage, won by Ben O'Connor, to climb to within 22sec of a top-three placing. 'That's not much,' Picnic PostNL's Onley said of the slim margin between him and the third-placed German, Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, on the eve of the Tour's final summit finish at La Plagne. 'We'll give it everything tomorrow.' After being dropped by Pogacar and Vingegaard towards the top of the Col de la Madeleine, Onley had stayed calm and finally rejoined the main group on the valley roads leading to Courchevel. 'Visma set a hard pace,' Onley said of Vingegaard's team, 'I just did what I could.' He added: 'I wouldn't say I kept my cool, but I still felt good. I'm just not at the level of those guys when they attack. It showed at the end when they went pretty hard up there.' While Onley continued to confound expectations, ghosts were laid by Pogacar, whose last visit to La Loze in 2023 when he uttered the infamous words 'I'm gone, I'm dead' ended in a catastrophic defeat by Vingegaard. This time, it was the Slovenian that left the Dane behind, the Emirates XRG rider attacking in the final 500m to distance both Vingegaard and the inexhaustible Onley on the climb's steepest grades. Friday's Stage 19 of the Tour de France has been shortened after an outbreak of contagious nodular dermatitis in cattle near the Col des Saisies forced authorities to cull livestock and restrict access to the area, race organisers said on Thursday. The 129.9km stage from Albertville to La Plagne was due to include the ascent of the Col des Saisies, but the climb has now been scrapped to avoid the affected zone, ASO said in a statement."In light of the distress experienced by the affected farmers and in order to preserve the smooth running of the race, it has been decided, in agreement with the relevant authorities, to modify the route," ASO said. The ceremonial start will take place as planned in Albertville, followed by a 7km neutralised section before the official start an hour later than planned. Riders will rejoin the original course shortly before Beaufort, at the 52.4km mark of the initial route. As a result, the stage will now be reduced to 95km. The shortened stage still finishes in La Plagne and comes just two days before the Tour concludes in Paris on Sunday. Reuters Vingegaard may still cling to the dream of an unlikely victory, but Pogacar now seems keen for it to end. 'It's not over yet and I will try my best tomorrow, the day after and the day after, to keep my lead,' he said, before adding: 'I cannot wait that it's all over. 'This is the point where I ask myself: 'Why am I still here?' It's so long these three weeks. You just count the kilometres to Paris, but I try to enjoy every day on the bike as much as I can. The fans really help. It's still nice to ride, even in the third week, when you're all tired and annoyed by everybody around you, and you just want to go home.' Lizzie Deignan has announced her immediate retirement from professional cycling after sharing news that she and husband, Phil, are expecting their third child. The 36-year-old former world champion had previously said 2025 would be her final season but has now called time on a career in which she recorded 43 professional wins, among them victories at Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders and the Women's Tour. Deignan took the world title in 2015, a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2014 and Olympic silver at the London Games in 2012. Deignan took a career break in 2018 for the birth of her daughter, Orla, returning to win a second Women's Tour title in 2019 before her victories at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and La Course by Le Tour de France followed in 2020, and a brilliant solo win in the first Paris-Roubaix Femmes came in 2021. A second career break came in 2022 for the birth of her son, Shea. Deignan's last race was the Copenhagen Sprint last month, which came a couple of weeks after she competed in the Tour of Britain Women for the last time. Speaking before that race, Deignan said she was proud to have been part of an era of unprecedented growth in women's cycling. She said part of what had kept her racing on was the growth of new races that she wanted to be part of, having not had those opportunities earlier in her career."I think if I had retired any earlier than now I would have had regrets, definitely, sitting at home watching all these opportunities unfold," Deignan said. "I can be really proud and pleased with the last five, six years of my career where I've got to feel truly like a professional, to be respected and to have opportunities equal to the men." PA Media O'Connor does not win often but when he does, it is on the biggest of stages. As the Australian, riding for Jayco–AlUla, ground his way towards the mist-shrouded finish line, the 29-year-old, winner of a similarly cold and damp Alpine stage to Tignes in 2021, let out an exultant cry. It was, as Vingegaard admitted later, a 'brutal' stage. 'Five hours in the saddle,' he said. 'I'm not sure I've ever done such a hard stage in the Tour before.' Even before the stage began, Pogacar and Visma-Lease a bike had been at odds after the defending champion collided with one of his rival's team cars as he rode to the start in Vif. 'We were going to the start line, cruising behind the car,' Pogacar said. 'Maybe he wanted to check my brakes. I was not ready because I didn't see any reason that he wanted to stop urgently, so I crashed into the car. But it's OK.' Clearly the Slovenian suffered no ill effects. Whatever they throw him, he is just too strong for his rivals. With one more summit finish to come, on Friday at La Plagne, it would take an unprecedented collapse for him now to lose the race.

Max Verstappen: Sacking Christian Horner makes no difference to my Red Bull future
Max Verstappen: Sacking Christian Horner makes no difference to my Red Bull future

Telegraph

time7 hours ago

  • Telegraph

Max Verstappen: Sacking Christian Horner makes no difference to my Red Bull future

Max Verstappen says Christian Horner's shock dismissal as Red Bull team principal has 'made no difference' to his decision over whether to stay at the team, adding 'only time will tell' if it is the right move on the part of the team's shareholders. Speaking for the first time since Horner was abruptly informed by Red Bull's Austrian overlords that he had been 'released from his operational duties' after 20 trophy-laden years in charge, Verstappen mostly played a straight bat to questions about his former team principal. The 27-year-old's future is understood to have been one of the key factors in Red Bull GmBH's decision to dismiss Horner, with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff openly admitting in Austria last month that he was 'in discussions' with the Dutchman over the possibility of a future drive. It was therefore significant that Verstappen refused to guarantee that he would line up in Red Bull colours next season, albeit he is widely expected to stay on for at least one more year. There is believed to be an option in Verstappen's contract allowing him to leave should he fall out of the top three in the drivers' championship before the summer break. Verstappen, in third, currently leads Russell, in fourth, by 18 points with only this weekend's race in Belgium, and next weekend's race in Hungary, to come before F1's summer shutdown. What did Verstappen say? Verstappen could have been forgiven for feeling a little miffed as he arrived for what was an even larger than usual media scrum in Belgium. No one from Red Bull Austria has yet given a reason for Horner's dismissal, meaning he and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda had to face a barrage of questions before the company's senior management, Red Bull GMbH chief executive Oliver Mintzlaff and motorsport adviser Helmut Marko, had even explained themselves. That said, the Dutch driver is a safe pair of hands and he would have expected every question which was thrown at him. Verstappen said he had been informed by the shareholders of their decision 'half a day' before the news was made public, which he said was 'normal', adding that he had had no input and was neither surprised nor unsurprised. 'At the end of the day, they run the team,' he said. 'And I'm the driver, so whatever they decide, it's fully in their rights to do what they want. I think in this world, things like this can happen.' Verstappen conceded that the team's extraordinary success under Horner, the last 18 months had 'not gone how we would have liked' and the management 'wanted to steer the ship in a different direction'. Verstappen was careful to thank Horner for his years of service – this will be his first ever race without the Englishman present – and said their relationship 'would not change'. But he also said he was looking forward to working with his new team principal Laurent Mekies, saying his engineering background was interesting. 'Of course, I had already quite a few meetings with Laurent,' he said. 'The last two weeks have been quite intense for him to jump in. But yeah, I'm equally excited for the team now moving forward because that's what we have to do. 'I like Laurent. He's a very nice guy, first of all, a very clever guy. He's been in different areas of the F1 paddock as well. And I think that can be helpful.' Asked about his father Jos' strained relationship with Horner, and whether the latter's dismissal removed at least one of the barriers to him staying with the team, Verstappen demurred. 'No, it doesn't really,' he said. 'I don't think it will matter at all for my decision in the future. The only thing that matters is that we work on the car and make it as fast as we can make it.' Verstappen also denied having met up with Wolff on holiday in Sardinia following reports their yachts were parked up next to each other. 'Well I was swimming in the ocean at the time,' he said. 'I don't really care about these things. I went on holiday with my friends, my family. And when other people also are there at the same time, yeah, that can happen. There are more people on the island than just me and Toto and the family. If you go to the same island, that can happen.' Asked whether he had spoken to Horner and whether it had been the right decision to get rid of him, Verstappen said: 'Yeah, I did. It's great to speak to him and time will tell. I cannot say right now, you know, within two weeks of, not even action on the track, that suddenly everything is different or better. But we are trying to be better and we are trying to work on that.' What didn't he say? As is often the way with these press conferences, it was what was left unsaid which was arguably of more interest. Following all the frenzied speculation about his future, this would have been the perfect opportunity for Verstappen to put to bed the rumours and confirm he was staying at Red Bull next season. But he chose not to. 'There is also a possibility I don't wake up tomorrow,' Verstappen replied when asked whether there was a possibility he might leave. 'So then there is no driving at all. Life is unpredictable. But in general, I'm very happy where I'm at. I hope…and that was still the target that we set out when we signed the new deal [which runs until 2028], that I would drive here until the end of my career.' Verstappen also chose not to answer a direct question about his father's difficult relationship with Horner and whether that had been tricky for him for the last 18 months. What is likely to happen? As far as Verstappen's future is concerned, the jungle drums right now very much suggest he will stay for 2026 at least. Although Verstappen refused to rule out a move for next season – and it would get very interesting if he does fall out of the top three this weekend or next– Wolff told Austrian broadcaster ORF this week that tying down his current drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli was the 'absolute priority' for him, playing down any 'big surprises' over the summer break. Russell also sounded very relaxed about his future in his press conference on Thursday. Telegraph Sport has been told Russell may even get a multi-year deal which would be interesting in the context of any future move for Verstappen.

Max Verstappen admits what he 'hopes' will happen amid 2026 Mercedes switch rumours
Max Verstappen admits what he 'hopes' will happen amid 2026 Mercedes switch rumours

Daily Mirror

time7 hours ago

  • Daily Mirror

Max Verstappen admits what he 'hopes' will happen amid 2026 Mercedes switch rumours

Max Verstappen has been heavily linked with a switch away from Red Bull to Formula 1 rivals Mercedes for months, with speculation intensifying since boss Christian Horner was axed Max Verstappen has admitted he is simply "hoping" that he will be with "the right team" next year. His cryptic comment comes amid intense speculation over his future with Red Bull Racing and claims that he could break his contract and leave for rivals Mercedes. ‌ The Dutchman has a deal with Red Bull until 2028, but it contains an exit clause which he has been strongly linked with triggering. And speculation about his 2026 plans has only intensified since the news broke that the Red Bull parent company had dismissed team principal and chief executive Christian Horner. ‌ Laurent Mekies has been installed as his successor, an appointment which has been hailed as an "extremely good move" in the context of getting Verstappen to stay. That looks to be the most likely outcome, with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also stating he would like to stick with his current driver line-up for now. ‌ For whatever reason, Verstappen has avoided making any statements in public which could be seen as being a definitive decision. Mirror Sport asked him directly at the British Grand Prix earlier this month if he could state outright that he will be a Red Bull driver in 2026, but he declined to do so. What is clear is that Verstappen wants to be in the quickest car possible so he can add to the four F1 titles he has won so far in his career. His quest to make it five this year is all-but over with McLaren the dominant force on the grid and Red Bull's performance in relative decline. New engine regulations coming into force and Mercedes have been hotly tipped to start the next era strongly, given how well they adapted the last time power unit rules changed in 2014. In contrast, Red Bull are building their own engines for the first time and may struggle to be as competitive initially. Commenting on the situation in an interview with The Athletic, Verstappen made it clear he is paying little attention to speculation and guesses about what the balance of power might be when the 2026 season begins, and that he is keeping his fingers crossed that it will all work out well in the end. ‌ "[2026 is] a big question mark for everyone," he said. "For me, you just hope that you're with the right team, and... I don't [want] to say 'luck in' but, in a way, you do 'luck in' because if you're a good driver and suddenly your team steps up, then you know that you have a winning chance. That's how F1 works." Verstappen has been visually irritated by the incessant questioning about his future amid the constant links to Mercedes, but he continues to insist that his thinking is unaffected by the speculation. He added: "I know what I have done to get here. I've known what I have achieved already in this sport, and I focus on myself, the people close to me. The team and family. "I do what I have to do on track, and then, besides that, just live my life outside of it with all my passions. And with my family (too). For me, I don't let it distract me [from] what I'm doing here."

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store