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 also suggests Baumgartner was already dead when the collision occurred.

Shortly before his death, the sports star posted a video on his social media alongside the caption: ‘Too much wind’.

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. 

During his free fall to Earth, he exceeded speeds of 843.6mph, breaking the sound barrier, before deploying his parachute for a safe landing in New Mexico after over four minutes in descent.

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.

‘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.’

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

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.’

Following a briefing with a doctor, Mr Baumgartner was told the ‘good news’ – if something went wrong ‘it would only take 15 seconds to die.’

The launch was originally scheduled for 9 October 2012, but was aborted due to adverse weather conditions.

‘The first test got called off, and we only had one spare balloon,’ said Mr Baumgartner. ‘If the second test failed, we would have had to wait another six months to try again.’

Thankfully, Baumgartner woke up on the 14 October to better conditions, and felt optimistic for the second launch attempt.

Despite surviving the stunt unscathed, his main concern was whether or not he had hit his key goal – breaking the sound barrier

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of his jump, MailOnline spoke to Baumgartner in 2022, who described his memories of the terrifying stunt – and why he would never attempt it again

Baumgartner was an accomplished skydiver who had completed thousands of jumps before setting his sights to space

‘You wake up a 2am and go out to mission control, do the weather brief and medical tests,’ he described.

‘They put on my pressure suit and then put me in the capsule. Once the balloon launched, it was a big relief – we were on the way.’

During the 90 minute ascent, several questions were going through Baumgartner’s head.

‘Will we reach jump altitude of 35,000 metres? Can I even open the door? It might be frozen shut?’ he described.

His worries were put to rest, however, when the capsule reached 38,969.3 metres (127,852 feet) and the door opened without a hitch, at which point he knew there was only one way down.

While you might think Baumgartner would be nervous at this point, he explained how he actually felt strangely peaceful.

‘I looked up and the sky was black,’ he said.

‘It was completely silent. All you can hear is yourself breathing. It was very peaceful.’

As much as he wanted to enjoy that moment, Baumgartner didn’t have long – he had already disconnected from the capsule’s oxygen supply, and now relied on an oxygen cannister, which would only last for 15 minutes.

He saluted the capsule’s camera, took one step forwards and jumped.

As he fell back down to Earth, Baumgartner quickly accelerated, going from 0 to 890mph in just 50 seconds and breaking the sound barrier.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.