Record-Holding Skydiver Felix Baumgartner Set to Marry Longtime Girlfriend

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By IBTimes Staff Reporter | October 17, 2012 1:59 AM EST

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.

According to The Daily Mail, Baumgartner is set to marry current girlfriend Nicole Oetl, a former model and beauty queen in Austria.

Reuters
After days of delays, Felix Baumgartner finally became the first skydiver to go faster than the speed of sound.

The pair delayed marriage plans until after Felix’s historic jump, but now all plans are “a go” for the couple to marry next year and settle in Switzerland after that.

Baumgartner, 43, and Oetl, 26, met in 2006 when the latter was Miss Lower Austria, according to The 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 lasted a whole ten minutes, approximately.

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 afterwards. I thought for a few seconds that I’d lose consciousness.”

Unconsciousness is just the tip of the iceberg, as experts claim that with that pressure, a diver’s eyeballs could potentially burst.

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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(Photo: Reuters / )
After days of delays, Felix Baumgartner finally became the first skydiver to go faster than the speed of sound.
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