Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound more than a decade ago, died in a crash Thursday along the eastern coast of Italy.

Felix Baumgartner, the first person to fall faster than the speed of sound, died at 56 after crashing into a hotel swimming pool while paragliding in Italy.

Felix Baumgartner, a professional daredevil and skydiver who fell faster than the speed of sound from the edge of space in 2012, died in a paragliding accident in Italy on Thursday, according to Red Bull, the company behind Mr. Baumgartner’s extreme jumps. He was 56.