Record-Holding Skydiver Felix Baumgartner Set to Marry Longtime Girlfriend
Fresh off of free falling a record-breaking 128,100 feet, Austrian daredevil skydiver Felix Baumgartner is set to take another, slightly less dangerous, leap.
Baumgartner is set to marry his girlfriend, Nicole Oetl, a former model and beauty queen, in Austria, the Daily Mail reported.
The pair delayed marriage plans until after Baumgartner’s historic jump, but now all plans are “a go” for the couple to marry next year and then settle in Switzerland.
Baumgartner, 43, and Oetl, 26, met in 2006 when the latter was Miss Lower Austria, according to the (U.K.) Sun. More recently, Baumgartner stole headlines and Sunday morning computer streams when his leap from the edge of space was watched by a record-breaking 8 million YouTubers. The daredevil traveled for nearly four hours into the sky, but his descent only lasted about 10 minutes.
It wasn’t all a cakewalk for Baumgartner, however. The initial jump was harmonious, but soon after Baumgartner began swirling into an uncontrolled spin.
"It was really brutal at times,” he said afterward. I thought for a few seconds that I’d lose consciousness.”
Finally, Baumgartner was able to regain control of himself and cease spinning, to the elation of onlookers in the Red Bull control room. Baumgartner has been jumping for the energy drink giant since 1988 when the company was just one-year-old. His latest jump with the company could bring in tens of millions for the beverage producer, according to Forbes.
This latest, record-breaking leap was Baumgartner’s 2,600th. Previous stunts include flying across the English Channel with wings strapped to his back, leaping off of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, and jumping from the 101-story Tapei Tower.
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