Latest news with #extremesports
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Watch: Last video of Felix Baumgartner as he sets off on fatal paraglider flight
Felix Baumgartner's partner shared video of the extreme athlete setting off on his fatal paragliding flight. The 56-year-old Australian daredevil was flying over Porto Saint'Elpido in Italy on Thursday (17 July) when he lost control of his motorized paraglider. Witnesses said they heard a loud boom as the paraglider spun out of control and crashed next to a swimming pool. On Saturday, Miha Schwartzenberg posted a video to X of Baumgartner's taking off on his fatal journey. 'I was filming him taking off not knowing that this will be his last flight of his extraordinary life,' Schwartzenberg said in the caption. 'Felix Baumgartner is going home now, up there, where he was the happiest ever.' Baumgartner was best known for his record-breaking skydive from the edge of space in 2012.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Watch: Last video of Felix Baumgartner as he sets off on fatal paraglider flight
Felix Baumgartner's partner shared video of the extreme athlete setting off on his fatal paragliding flight. The 56-year-old Australian daredevil was flying over Porto Saint'Elpido in Italy on Thursday (17 July) when he lost control of his motorized paraglider. Witnesses said they heard a loud boom as the paraglider spun out of control and crashed next to a swimming pool. On Saturday, Miha Schwartzenberg posted a video to X of Baumgartner's taking off on his fatal journey. 'I was filming him taking off not knowing that this will be his last flight of his extraordinary life,' Schwartzenberg said in the caption. 'Felix Baumgartner is going home now, up there, where he was the happiest ever.' Baumgartner was best known for his record-breaking skydive from the edge of space in 2012.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Felix Baumgartner: the man who skydived from space
The Austrian extreme sports pioneer Felix Baumgartner, known for his record-breaking 2012 skydive from the edge of space, has died in a paragliding accident in central Italy, police have said. Baumgartner, 56, lost control of his motorised paraglider while flying over Porto Sant'Elpidio in Marche on Thursday. He fell to the ground near the swimming pool of a hotel. The cause of the accident remains unclear
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The tragic daredevils who came a cropper before Felix Baumgartner: From Eiffel Tower 'parachute' jumper to ageing scion of the 'Flying Wallendas'
The death of daredevil skydiver Felix Baumgartner this week has left thousands of fans shocked. Although the extreme athlete had survived feats that included jumping from the edge of space, he died while paragliding in Italy, with investigators believing he suffered a cardiac arrest. But Baumgartner is far from the first thrill-seeker to meet their end while doing what they love. Franz Reichelt Inventor Franz Reichelt died in 1912 when he jumped off the Eiffel Tower in the misguided belief that his homemade parachute would work. Although he was a tailor by trade, Reichelt's real passion lay in inventing. At the time, in the early 20th century, aeroplanes were in their infancy, and Reichelt was keen to develop a wearable parachute for when they went wrong. He set about tailoring a special suit made from silk and rubber. He theorised that a falling person could open their arms to create wings that would slow their descent. His first attempts, using dummies, were successful. However, when he refined the previously bulky design, the dummies crashed to earth. The Daily Mail's report of the tragedy When Reichelt tested the suit himself by dropping more than 30 feet, he needed piles of straw to break his fall and save his life. However, the inventor believed that, if the drop was higher, the suit would work. In 1912, he was given permission to test the suit from Paris's Eiffel Tower. Although friends tried to convince him not to carry out the feat, Reichelt pressed on. Cameras were there to ensure that Reichelt's feat would be recorded forever. He was seen perching on a chair for several moments before he stepped over the fence on the first level of the tower and falling to his fate. Rather than the suit working as he believed it would, Reichelt dropped like a stone in a flurry of fabric. The inventor was killed instantly. Karl Wallenda When he met his end in March 1978, Karl Wallenda was one of the greatest high wire walkers in the world. The German-born performer was at the head of a family whose name was synonymous with daredevil stunts. His children, grandchildren, in-laws and even his wife were dare devils too. But on the day he passed away, Wallenda was 73 years old, and his age had clearly affected his skills. The stuntman had been trying to make the 200-foot crossing between the two towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The wire was more than 121feet above the ground. Wallenda had no safety harness, as was his trademark. He made it around two thirds of the way across before losing his balance and plummeting to the ground. Wallenda had hung on to the wire for a few seconds after stumbling. But rescue or recovery was impossible. He let go and plunged to his death. Less than two years before his death, Wallenda had successfully performed a daring tightrope walk 100ft above the River Thames near Tower Bridge in London. Like on his last, fateful walk, he had no safety harness. The performer stumbled twice but completed the stunt unscathed. At one point he even stood on his head on the wire. Waiting for him at the end were two Martinis. 'Why do I do it? For the excitement, the admiration, of course,' he said afterwards. 'It was bad out there. The wire was like a piece of rubber. And the wind, the wind was bad.' In 1970, Wallenda had walked 1,000 feet along a cable across the 700ft deep Tallulah Gorge in Georgia. Todd Green Todd Green was, like his father, an esteemed stuntman. But in 2011, he plunged 200feet to his death when his air show wing walk stunt went disastrously wrong. The performer had planned to climb out of the plane he was flying in and get into a helicopter that was directly above him. Spectators at the air show in Selfridge, near Detroit in the US state of Michigan were watching excitedly on the ground. But as he reached for the helicopter's metal landing skid, Green slipped. Horrified onlookers watched as he plunged to the ground and was killed. Some spectators thought that the father-of-two's fall was part of the stunt, but the arrival of an ambulance quickly indicated that there had been a serious accident. Donald Campbell Donald Campbell was the handsome, charismatic, British record breaker. In 1964, he had set both the world land speed record and the world water speed record. Those feats came after he had blazed a trail with a series of increasingly faster runs in his Bluebird hydroplane. On January 4, 1967, he was looking to again break the world water speed record on Coniston Water in the Lake District. But he died during the attempt to top the 300mph barrier when the boat flipped. The wreck and Campbell's body were salvaged in 2001. There was then a dispute between Campbell's family - who wanted to hand the craft to a museum - and engineer Bill Smith, who wanted to restore it. It was eventually agreed that the boat would be given to the Ruskin Museum in Coniston. Bobby Leach In 1911, Englishman Bobby Leach decided to find fame by going over the terrifying Niagara Falls in a specially constructed barrel. Incredibly, he survived the feat but spent nearly six months in hospital recovering from broken kneecaps and ribs. After recovering, he made money from his plunge by selling postcards and going on world tours. It was while he was on tour in New Zealand in 1926 that the daredevil's luck ran out. While walking in the street, he slipped on a piece of orange peel and broke his leg. Complications from the break forced doctors to amputate his leg. Infection set in and Leach died.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Feeling supersonic: Remembering Felix Baumgartner, the man who fell from space
Euronews Culture had the opportunity to interview Baumgartner in 2022, to mark the 10th anniversary of his legendary jump. We remember the intrepid record-breaker and the impact he had on the world of extreme sports. Here is our interview from 2022: 10 years ago on 14 October 2012, Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian parachutist, captivated the world when he jumped from a capsule 40km above the New Mexico desert, on the very edge of space. In total, the remarkable feat broke three world records – the highest free fall, the highest manned balloon flight and he became the first man to break the speed of sound in free fall (he reached 1361.5 kmh!). The YouTube live stream of the event also reached more than 8 million concurrent viewers, the highest amount in the website's history. To celebrate the 10th year anniversary of the jump Baumgartner and Red Bull have released Space Jump, a new 40 minute documentary showing never-before-seen images and perspectives of the skydive. We recently caught up with the Austrian adventurer to discuss the new documentary and reflect on the legacy of his death-defying plunge. Euronews Culture: How does it feel looking back on Red Bull Stratos, 10 years on? Felix Baumgartner: In retrospect I have a lot of good memories of it, even if it was not always fun to work on the programme. Especially when I found out that I was getting claustrophobic inside the space suit. That moment was a real showstopper and I had to find a solution. I had never worked on a project like it, so I learnt how to become a team player. I was not used to being around so many people because as a base jumper it's just you, your parachute and your decision making. But once you sign up to a project like Red Bull Stratos there's just so many people in the team. After working on a project of that size I don't really fear any other project, no matter the size. I'm meeting a lot of fans. People that I didn't see while I was doing it. And a lot of them are telling me that this was their personal moon landing How has your life changed since the jump? FB: It didn't really change my life - I still have the same friends, I'm still a humble person, all the way down to Earth. It just opened up a lot of doors. I was travelling around the world. I did a lot of TV shows, I met Tom Cruise, Gerard Butler and I had a really good conversation with James Cameron, the guy who went down into the Mariana Trench in 2012 in a submarine called Deep Sea Challenger. So I met a lot of very interesting people. Still to this day I'm meeting a lot of fans. People that I didn't see while I was doing it. And a lot of them are telling me that this was their personal moon landing. I'm not saying my jump is comparable with the moon landing, that's a much bigger accomplishment. But from an emotional standpoint it is comparable. Do you think the feat will ever be accomplished again? FB: There's always somebody out there who will break your record, but I'm happy with this because I was the first one. And as we remember from history, nobody ever remembers the second one. When did you first get into skydiving? FB: I was always fascinated in skydiving ever since I was a little kid. I remember spending a lot of time on top of trees, always seeing the world from above, that birds eye view. As soon as I turned 16 I went to the local skydiving club. They taught me how to skydive and that's where everything started. Then a couple of years later I joined the Austrian military as a paratrooper. Then later on I started to BASE jump. I started to travel around the world and BASE jump off very well known landmarks. I BASE-jumped off the highest building in the world, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, I BASE-jumped off the Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro, so a lot of very famous landmarks. And then in 2005 I signed up for Red Bull Stratos, which was the most complicated project I've done so far. What is your advice for someone seeking to accomplish their own dreams? FB: I think it's very important that you surround yourself with the right people, you have to listen learn and you need a lot of discipline. Don't look left and right just go for it. As I always say big dreamers always win. Are you still skydiving today? FB: Since 2012 I have done four skydives, but I'm more focused on helicopter flying. It was my second childhood dream. My first was becoming a skydiver, which I did at the age of 16, my second dream was becoming a helicopter pilot. I'm a commercial pilot now and Red Bull also taught me how to fly aerobatics in a helicopter two years ago, so I'm now really busy with air shows all around the world. Tell us about your new documentary with Red Bull, Space Jump FB: 10 years later you look at things in a different way. 10 years ago everyone was under pressure, we had to deliver, we had to do something that had never been done before. 10 years later everyone is a lot more relaxed. The film has a lot of insight and a lot of things that we've never spoken about before. So it's definitely worth the watch, I was very happy when I saw it for the first time. It was very emotional and brought back a lot of good memories. What's next for you? FB: I've always had the dream to go to the moon because I still think to this day that it's the biggest accomplishment, to set foot on another planet. And so far there's only been 12 people on the moon. So I would take any chance to go the moon, that's something I'd really love to do. RIP Felix Baumgartner: 1969 - 2025
