A world champion wingsuit skydiver has died after his parachute failed to deploy during a jump in southern France.
Pierre Wolnik, 37, a two-time French freefly world champion, died on Saturday after jumping from a helicopter in a wingsuit in the Mont Blanc massif region.
After a brief free fall, Wolnik’s parachute failed to open, resulting in his death. This was reported by the French newspaper Le Figaro.
French sports newspaper Sport Tricolore reported Wolnik’s death on XHe described him as “a world-renowned figure in wingsuit flying.”
Wingsuit flying is an extreme sport in which the diver wears a special suit with webbing between the legs and under the arms, allowing the wearer to glide at high speed and reduce the rate of descent.
His body was found in the village of Les Bossons in the Chamonix Valley. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
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The exact cause of the technical failure that led to the parachute failure is being investigated, Le Figaro reported.
The athlete was a member of the French FAI World Championship team and a world leader in wingsuit skydiving.
Active on social media, Wolnik was a professional videographer who often shared footage of his daring dives with his Instagram followers.
After Wolnik’s death the French Parachute Association wrote in a translated Facebook statement that he “will be remembered as a teammate whose presence will forever be etched in the memories of those around him.”
“Today the entire skydiving community mourns and pays tribute to a young man known for his talent and human qualities,” it added.
“On behalf of the entire federation, we express our sincere condolences to his family, his relatives, as well as his teammates, his coach and all the French teams who had the opportunity to be with him,” the statement concluded.
World skydiving champion Pierre Wolnik died in a crash in the French Alps on February 7 after his parachute failed to deploy.
French Parachute Association/Facebook
In a separate post, the association’s president, Yves-Marie Guillaud, praised Wolnik for his contribution to the sport.
“The entire skydiving community mourns the loss of a talented young man with such a kind smile,” he wrote on Facebook, according to Le Parisien. “May the memory of this extraordinary skydiver fill our hearts.”
In October, Wolnik shared a video of himself and another diver soaring over a vast mountain range.
“It seems that too many of us take this great mystery of life for granted so much that we only question the nature of the experience at the end,” the caption reads.
According to Red Bull, Wingsuit divers fly at speeds of up to 250 km/h. Pilots must have extensive skydiving experience before attempting a dive. They often have completed between 200 and 500 jumps before wearing a wingsuit.
The first recorded wingsuit jump ended similarly to Wolnik’s. It took place in Paris in 1912 Franz Reicheltan Austrian tailor, jumped from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. His self-designed suit failed and Reichelt fell 187 feet to his death.
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