Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner tragically died - why he is a legend.

The legendary Austrian extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner tragically died as a result of an accident during a paragliding flight in Porto Sant'Elpidio on the Adriatic coast of Italy. The athlete sustained numerous injuries and died. This was reported by the Austrian publication Kurier.

The rescue service reported that Baumgartner lost control of his motorized paraglider due to a sudden deterioration in his condition. His paraglider fell into a hotel pool during the fall, striking a hotel employee who was taken to the hospital with neck injuries from debris that flew off during the impact.

How Felix Baumgartner became a legend

Felix Baumgartner gained worldwide fame in 2012 thanks to his stratospheric jump from an altitude of over 36 kilometers above the Earth. He became the first person to break the sound barrier in free fall. After landing, the Salzburg native remarked: 'Sometimes you have to go high to realize how small you really are.'